BEV. E. E. WHEELEE, M.A., AXD DE. H00PPELL. 55 



Meldon, near Morpeth. — A very wet month. On the 15th the 

 rainfall was 1*12 inches. There were violent gales of wind on 

 the 1st, 6th, and 7th. The gale of the 6th was very violent, and 

 totally divested several of the forest trees of their leaves. The 

 lifting of potatoes has been a difficult operation this season on 

 strong lands, and the tubers were very much diseased. 



North Shields. — Yery strong gale from the S."W., beginning 

 on the 6th and ending at 4 o'clock on the 7th. Much damage done. 

 At Alnwick the self-registering anemometer, belonging to His 

 Grace the Duke of Northumberland, recorded a velocity of seventy- 

 one miles an hour. Much damage was done at various places 

 throughout the counties of Northumberland and Durham. The 

 storm extended over Scotland, and a considerable part of England. 



South Shields. — There was a great shower of falling stars on 

 the 27th. The Eev. Dr. Hooppell states that at least thirty 

 thousand may be considered to have been visible between 6 p.ir. 

 and 1 1 p.m. A very considerable fall of temperature followed. 

 The same phenomenon was observed after the great shower of 

 stars in 1866. 



December. — 



Light Christmas, light wheat sheaf, 



Dark Christmas, heavy wheat sheaf. 



—Old Proverb. 



Greenwich. — The mean temperature of December was 42-9°, 

 being 3*8° higher than the average of the preceding 101 years. 

 This was chiefly owing to the high night temperature. 



The daily range of temperature was 1'2° above the average. 



The range of the readings of the barometer was more than an 

 inch. 



It is rarely that such a long period of depression in atmosphe- 

 ric pressure occurs as took place in the last quarter of 1872. 



The rainfall was 2'1 inches in excess of the average. 



The most remarkable feature of the quarter was the frequency 

 of rain. During the quarter it fell at Greenwich on sixty-seven 

 days, a greater number than had been recorded since 1815. The 

 total fall amounted to 11*32 inches. 



