— 12 — 



days, Petro Alexandrowsk 127 (Schwarz p. 561). January is 

 the coldest month, and Ficker gives as the absolute minima 

 for 10 years, — 28'',4 and — 28",! C. for Petro Alexandrowsk 

 and Tashkent respectively. On the other hand, the temper- 

 ature may rise to -|- 20" C. in January. — Snow is not 

 rare, but it seldom lies long on the ground. 



Spring comes quickly, commencing at the end of February, 

 and it is comparatively warm; April is warmer than October. 

 In May the average temperature is over 20" C. July is the 

 hottest month, with absolute maxima for 10 years, according 

 to Ficker, 43^,4 C. and 42",! C. for Petro Alexandrowsk and 

 Tashkent. In Merw 44 ",4 C. has been recorded, and in Na- 

 mangan (Ferghana) as much as 47 ",6 C. (Mushketow). The 

 atmosphere is clear and nightly radiation strong, so that the 

 temperature varies greatly as can be seen from the maxima 

 and minima given in Table 1. The daily variations in tem- 

 perature are also very great, but as the Russian meteoi-ological 

 stations do not record maximum temperatures, except the 

 temperatures at 1 p. m., no definite figures can be given. At 

 Tashkent in the years 1900 — 1902 the difference between the 

 minima and the 1 p. m. readings varied from 11,4 to 20,o, 

 but the maximum occurs later in the day than 1 p. m. Radde 

 (1899) records from the sand-desei't a variation of temperature 

 of 36" in 24 hours, while Capus (p. 20) gives up to 40", and 

 Obrutshew (quoted by Radde) records the following tempera- 

 tures for the month of March in the sand-desert: At 6 a. m., 

 3°; 9 a. m., 20"; 1 p. m., 28" C. 



At Tachta on the Murghab river near the northern bor- 

 der of Afghanistan, the following temperatures were observed 

 on June 23--'' (Radde 1899 p. 151): 



6 a. m., in shade 25,"5, in the sun 34" C. 

 8 — — »— 29,"5, — » — 

 11 _ _»_ 40,0 _^_ 500 



3 p.m. (?)—»— 43," — »— 54" 



Schwarz (p. 559) gives the monthly and yearly amplitudes 

 for a number of stations. 



