142 



BEN NEVIS OBSERVATORY. — LOG-BOOK. 



[1889. 



Slight drizzle of snow in evening, ending 



Oct. 12.— Summit clear till 13 h . Fog till 15 h . Clear 

 again till 19 h , and fog thereafter till midnight. Except 

 at 2 h and 3 h , when the sky was overcast with strato- 

 euomlus, there was little or no clouds on the sky all 

 forenoon. Betweeu 7 h 32 m and 13 h 16 m , the sunshine 

 record was unbroken. Lunar coronse were seen at 2 h , 

 6 h , and 23 h . In the early morning fog lay on the 

 Caledonian Canal and on Loch Eil, and during the 

 forenoon there was haze in the valleys, and detached 

 cumulus on the hill tops around. 



Oct. 13. — Sky cloudy all day and occasional fog 

 brushing the top of Ben Nevis, but no fog below, and air 

 very clear to westward in afternoon, the Outer Hebrides 

 and Colonsay being clearly visible. A lunar corona was 

 seen at midnight. 



Oct. 16. — Thin fog or mist all day, partly clearing at 

 times in afternoon. At 23 h and midnight top clear and 

 sky partly covered with high cumulus, and fog over the 

 hills to E. Dark hazy look in the valleys to W. and N. 



Oct. 17. — Fog and" haze over hills to E. till 4 h . Low- 

 lying fog and haze in valleys from 5 h to 10 h , after which 

 it began to rise. No fog in valleys in afternoon, but air 

 hazy all round, and sky partly covered with cumulus and 

 cirro-cumulus. 



Oct. 22. — Sky cloudy or fog all day, but air clear to 

 "W. in afternoon. At 14 h Skye, Rum, Colonsay, and 

 Jura all clearly visible. No fog in the valleys all day. 



Oct. 23. — Sky cloudy hi forenoon and fog passing over 

 the hill top, but, when free of fog, air clear to W. Foggy 

 all afternoon 

 in a heavy shower about midnight. 



Oct. 24. — Sky cloudy with cum. and cirrus till 18 h , 

 but after that clear. Fog hanging about the hill top 

 most of the day, and air always saturated. 



Oct. 25. — Sky clear till 9 h , but air mostly saturated. 

 Fog on hills to E. and S. from 6 h to 9 h , and after that 

 blowing over Ben Nevis also. At 7 h the ground was 

 covered with hoar frost at sea level. At 16 h air clear to 

 W. and N., Skye and Rum being seen. 



Oct, 27. — Top clear of fog most of the day and few 

 clouds overhead, but fog on hills to E. and S. all morning, 

 and cum. fog rising out of Glen Nevis. Clear views to 

 W., Skye, Rum, Mull, and occasionally, Colonsay, seen. 



Oct. 28. — Fog on hills to E. and S. in early morning, 

 and low down in valleys to N. about sunrise. Fog also 

 lay over Loch Eil till 10 h . At 9 h temperature rose 

 suddenly 5° 3, and the air became very dry, the humidity 

 at 9 h being 24. It got gradually and pretty steadily 

 damper during the rest of the day, and .was saturated by 

 l h on the 29th. Haze and fog gathered to W. in 

 afternoon, hiding Rum and Skye. 



Oct. 30. — Hail fell at 12 u , and sleet and snow in after- 

 noon till 20 h , but after that, little. What was falling at 

 21 h was small and hard. At 13 h it was found that the 

 door of the thermometer box had been blown off since 

 last hour. 



Nov. 1.— S.E. gale up to ll 1 '. Calm at 12 h and 

 heavy squalls from the N. and N.E. for the rest of the 

 day. Half hourly readings of barometer were taken, the 

 lowest observed was 24 - 475 in a sudden dip at 12 h . The 

 sun shone sufficiently to record from about ll h 28 m to 

 12 h 9 m . Very heavy drift all day making raingauge 

 measurements unreliable. The low level door had to be 



dug several times, and the tower door was used for a few 

 hours in the forenoon. At 17 h 10 m . dry 192671, wet 

 192677, and minimum 138545 were put out in small box 

 on ladder stand No. 2. The readings of these instru- 

 ments were taken from 18 h onwards, no duplicate 

 readings were taken in the larger screen. 



Nov. 2. — Heavy drift all morning, but about noon the 

 fog turned to mist which damped the snow and prevented 

 any further drifting. 



Nov. 4. — Top cleared about 9 h , leaving fog in the 

 valleys to N., which about noon rose and formed cum.-fog 

 all round, and after 18 h became fog on Ben Nevis. A 

 lunar corona was seen at 17 h . 



Nov. 7. — At about 15 h 40 m the mist broke suddenly, 

 and at 16 h the sky was clear except for streaks of cirrus 

 near the horizon, but thick cum.-fog lay over the hills 

 round. At 17 h it was much the same, but before 18 h fog 

 had again covered Ben Nevis also, which continued all 

 night. The snow is much melted by the thaw of the last 

 few days, the road being almost clear up to the first 

 gorge, and stones showing up all over the hill top. 



Nov. 9. — Very wet, but not thick mist all day, with 

 drizzling rain and some heavier showers. At 19 h and 

 again at 22 h the sky was seen, in each case rather more 

 than half covered with cirro-cumulus in long streaks 

 lying E. and W. 



Nov. 10.— Mist till 14 h , after which it sank, but 

 covered all the lower hills at from 3500 to 4000 feet for 

 the rest of the day. Sky showed variable amounts of 

 small hard cirro-cumulus moving from the W. Air very 

 dry at night, humidity 50 to 60 per cent. The snow is 

 now all gone except a few patches in hollows and drif t3 

 round the house. 



Nov. 1 1. — Air very dry till 5 h , after which it got 

 gradually damper. Fog lay among the hills in a level 

 sheet, at from 2000 to 4000 feet height all day, but rose 

 at night and was blowing across Ben Nevis at 22 h and 

 23 h . A lunar corona was seen at 22 h . The sun rose 

 from behind the fog at about 7 h 40 m . The first flash of 

 the disc was bright green. The earth shadow was 

 observed after sunset. 



Nov, 12. — The fog that was blowing occasionally 

 across the hill top gradually thickened, and from 3 h 

 onwards Ben Nevis was covered with thick wet mist. 



Nov. 13. — After 13 h the sky was clear except for some 

 cirrus and cirro-cumulus, but fog lay over the hills round, 

 occasionally rising and blowing over Ben Nevis also. A 

 halo was seen from the plateau of Storms at about 

 14 h 30 m . Air very dry after 20 h , the humidity being 

 about 50 per cent, till midnight. 



Nov. 14. — Fog lay over the hills round till 9 h , the sky 

 being mostly clear, but after the fog rose and covered 

 Ben Nevis also. 



Nov. 16.- — A lunar corona was observed at 6 h , and a 

 glory and fog-bow at ll h 15 m . The glory had three sets 

 of colours. Radius to middle of fog-bow (roughly) 

 45° 10'. No measurements of the glory were got. A 

 falling star was seen at about 19 h 5 m . A faint aurora 

 was observed at midnight. Sky apparently clear all day, 

 but fog blowing over the hill top, and only becoming thin 

 enough to let the stars be seen through it towards 

 evening. 



Nov. 17. — Aurora seen faintly at l h and 2 h . Sky 



