284 a year's weather. 



February of last year and of 1887 were unusually dry, the rainfall of 

 the latter being only 77-inch — just over three quarters of an inch — 

 and of last year '85-inch. How strikingly in contrast with the 

 February of 1 87 2, with its 6'98-inches, or nearly seven inches of rain ! 

 But the February rainfall of last year was less throughout the king- 

 dom than it had been for the ten previous years at the same season, 

 and we can scarcely expect many successive repetitions of such 

 agreeable dryness. Our total rainfall for the past two months of this 

 year is y54, same period last year 3'38-inches, or about 220 tons of 

 rain more to the acre this year than last. We had during February 

 snow on 15 days, hail on 6 days, 13 frosty nights, hoar-frosts, rain- 

 bows, strong winds, and other meteorological disturbances. Yet the 

 male flowers of the willow gilded over, and the hazels hung their 

 tassels, the coltsfoot, lesser celandine, ground-ivy, herb-Robert, 

 dove's-foot geranium, germander- speedwell, and a few others, in 

 addition to those recorded in our January weather letter, burst into 

 bloom, and the birds — wren and thrush alike — sang through it all. 



March 5th, 1889. 



The heavy rain, snow, and sleet of the early part of March 

 resulted in the heaviest downpour here for twenty-two years (1867), 

 when the rainfall in March was ^'44 3 that of 1 889 being 4/74-inches. 

 Of the great damage, in the West especially, of this downpour the 

 newspapers have given ample record. One of our heaviest recorded 

 March rainfalls was in the Crystal Palace year, 1851, 7 - ii-inches. 

 Our rainfall during March last year was little less than this month, 

 but March, 1888, was throughout Britain more than 1 ^-inches above 

 a ten year's average ; relatively, we are very much to the worse as 

 regards rain this year, the total rainfall of the last three months 

 being 10*28, for the same three months last year 8'o8-inches. 



Our greatest barometrical height was 3o"52-inches on the 16th, 

 our lowest 28-90 on the 1 8th, showing a range of 1 'da-inches in two 

 days. Our average greatest (maximum) heat was 5 2 ' 6, our average 

 least (minimum) heat 3$"] degrees 5 our coldest night was on the 

 1st of March with 12 degrees of frost. Taking the month through, 

 we had about equal sunshine and cloud, had frost on ten nights, 

 snow on the tst, 2nd (nearly one inch), and 3rd ; sleet on the 4th 

 and 9th, and a very striking hoar frost on the 2nd. 



