386 A year's weather. 



rainfall for the month was an inch and a quarter less than our 

 average April rainfall, the driest April since 1887, when only '^6 inch 

 of rain fell. In 1881 the April rainfall was exactly the same as that 

 of this year, i'^6 inches. In April, 1870, the monthly rainfall was 

 •18, in 1882 5-98 inches. 



The end of the month was very cold : this, perhaps, its 

 most distressing feature. The mean of all the daily maxima was 

 59"9, six degrees below the average 3 mean of all the nightly 

 minima 38*2, or nearly thirteen degrees below our April average. 

 This coldness followed a period of great heat. Our highest heat 

 in the sunshine was 9 1 degrees on the i ] th, our warmest in shade 

 72 degrees on the 7th 3 our coldest in shade on the 15th, (Good 

 Friday), 24 degrees: our greatest cold in the open, 20 or 12 

 degrees of frost, on the same night. We had frost on nine nights 

 in the shade, and frost during half the month in the open. 



The twelve cloudless days with which April opened, and the 

 summer warmth then experienced, unique for such a period of the 

 year, will always give to April, 1 892, a meteorological distinction, 

 even in spite of its later coldness, which did so much damage. It 

 seems singular that the weather should play the same freak with 

 the Easter holidays of this year as it did with those of Whitsuntide 

 last year ; then, as at Easter, it held aloft the allurements of beautiful 

 weather to break into storm, rain, and snow when the holidays 

 came. It is only on a weather chart that one can really picture the 

 change, and even then it is hard to grasp that so glorious a fortnight 

 of April summer had a following for nearly a week of wet, frost, 

 snow, hail, and sleet. Yet in this came the birds of spring. What 

 a hard time they must have had ! We had a range of about 50 

 degrees of temperature during the month. The wind was chiefly 

 N. and N.E. Of S.W., the common wind with us. We had very 

 little. 



The following are the rainfalls for comparison : — 



40 years' mean. 1891. 1892. 



January 4-85-ins 3'40-ins 2'27-ins. 



February ... 3-38-ms 0-22.ins 4-43-ins. 



March 2-91-ins 3-90-ins 1-07-ins. 



April 2-61-ins 2-48-ms I'36-ms. 



Totals ... 13-75-ms lOOO-in 9-13-ini5. 



