METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



BAROMETER 



November 22, 1768. A remarkable fall of the 

 barometer all over the kingdom. At Selborne we had no 

 wind, and not much rain ; only vast, swagging, rock-like 

 clouds, appeared at a distance. 



PARTIAL FROST 



The country people who are abroad in winter mornings 

 long before sun-rise, talk much of hard frost in some 

 spots, and none in others. The reason of these partial 

 frosts is obvious, for there are at such times partial fogs 

 about ; where the fog obtains, little or no frost appears : 

 but where the air is clear, there it freezes hard. So the 

 frost takes 'place either on hill or in dale, wherever the air 

 happens to be clearest and freest from vapour. 



THAW 



Thaws are sometimes surprisingly quick, considering 

 the small quantity of rain. Does not the warmth at such 

 times come from below ? The cold in still, severe seasons 

 seems to come down from above : for the coming over of 

 a cloud in severe nights raises the thermometer abroad at 

 once full ten degrees. The first notices of thaws often 

 seem to appear in vaults, cellars, etc. 



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