208 METEOROLOGIOAL REPORT FOR 1861. 
XXX.—WMeteorological Report for 1861. Hdited by 
Henry T. Mennett. 
Tae year 1861 will be gratefully remembered by the members 
of the Club, for the constancy with which it smiled upon their 
meetings; the summer and autumn contrasted most favourably 
with those of the previous year; on the east side of the island, 
the harvest was got in with unexampled rapidity, and in excellent 
condition; and tourists, both in this country and on the con- 
tinent, will not soon forget the long succession of brilliant days, 
and the unbroken weather which attended them. The tables 
which accompany these remarks confirm the general impression 
which the year has left upon our minds. The rain-fall was about 
an average, one, the mean-fall at 14 stations, being 26-96, or 
7 inches less than that of 1860, on the other hand, it is 43 
inches more than that of 1858, the driest year in our record. 
The mean monthly fall at all our stations given this year for the 
first time, will be found of some utility, as the number and wide 
distribution of these stations, may, to a great degree, neutralise 
the effect of special and peculiar circumstances, affecting any of 
them. 2 
The months of February and November were both exceptionally 
wet, and both these months and March were marked by storms 
most disastrous to shipping, of these the gales of February 8, 
(N.E.), March 6, (W.), May 17, and 20, (S.W.), and November 
1, and 14, were peculiarly fatal; and the heavy rains caused a 
flood of very unusual height in the Tyne on the 20th November. 
The record of the number of wet days does not yet prove itself 
of as great use as was anticipated, from the fact that different 
observers adopt different views as to what is to be called a wet 
day, and omit to enter days on which only showers, or thunder- 
storms occur : it was, and is, the intention and desire of the 
committee, that every day on which rain falls, should be entered 
under the “ Rain” column. This is the only means by which 
uniformity of observation can be attained. 
An unusually large number of interesting facts bearing on 
climate and seasons, have this year been communicated to us, 
and in order to encourage this kind of observation for the future 
