185 



In looking over the weather chart for January, 1891, the 

 coldness of the days and nights and occasional heavy rains are its 

 prominent features. During the month the barometer stood very 

 high, its mean height being 30"i5-inches ; its highest registration 

 being 30'7o-inches, on the 14th; its lowest, 29"57-inches, on the 

 24th. 



With the barometer standing close on thirty inches (2987) on 

 the 8th, we had over one inch of rain (i"oi). Unlike some places, 

 we had not to complain of absence of sunshine during the month, 

 for the sun shewed itself on twenty-four days. As our average 

 January rainfall is 4"85-iiiches, we must look upon the rainfall of 

 the month, 3*4o-inches, as very favourable 5 and as 2"43-inches of 

 this rain fell on the 8th, 33rd, 28th, 30th, and 3 tst, the month 

 was somewhat dry. 



The Truro rainfall in January 1890, was 5'62-inches, which 

 fell on twenty-eight days — a very wet month. 



It is singular that the average rainfall throughout Britain for the 

 same month was only 2'o7-inches, which fell on nineteen days. 

 The 8th was a phenomenal day. We had nearly one inch of rain 

 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. — three hours — then a thick mist, which 

 cleared, permitting showers of meteorites to be seen falling from the 

 N. and N.N.W. direction ; during the same night the thermometer 

 registered seventeen degrees of frost. 



Our coldest night was on the nth, when twenty-one degrees 

 of frost were registered out of doors, our next coldest was on the 

 18th, with twenty degrees of frost. 



Our monthly mean of greatest cold in night taken from ther- 

 mometers which are in a louvred weather-house was 2>3'^ degrees. 

 We have had, during the last fifty years, only two averages so low — 

 January, 185^5, 32*9 degrees, with only •65-inches of rain on eight 

 days; and i88r (the year of the great storm), 28-0 degrees; 

 probably the coldest January Cornwall has ever known. We had 

 snow on the 17th. 



February 16th, 1891. 



