Meteorology of Whitehaven. 23 



spring of 1844. This " atmospheric spring'' is highly regarded 

 by the simple inhabitants of the Dale, and when the " Sappers and 

 Miners" engaged in the trigonometrical survey, accidentally covered 

 it over in 1844, a great stir was made till it was re-opened, by order 

 of the officers. It may not be uninteresting to note the circumstances 

 attending the cessation of so remarkable a drought. The night pre- 

 ceding its termination was sufficiently fine and clear to admit of my 

 obtaining an excellent set of measures of the binary Star, g Bootis, 

 between 10 and 11 o'clock ; at midnight, the sky was covered with 

 a very thin veil of Cirro-stratus, reflecting a large, faint, lunar halo, 

 which was followed by heavy rain at 7h. 30m. on the following 

 morning ; and, by 3 o'clock in the afternoon, 6-10ths of an inch had 

 fallen. The writer may here remark, that the lunar halo is the most 

 certain prognostic of speedy atmospheric deposition with which he is 

 acquainted. A halo seen in the evening is almost invariably fol- 

 lowed by rain in the course of the night ; and, the larger the ring, 

 the sooner does precipitation ensue. This long-continued drought 

 ended rather suddenly, with a high state of the barometer ; nor was 

 it either preceded or succeeded by any marked fluctuations, either of 

 pressure or temperature. 



The excessive heat which prevailed throughout the greater part 

 of the summer of 1852, will long be remembered. The month of 

 June scarcely attained to its average temperature. Hail fell in the 

 Lake District, on the 1st and 2d ; and, on the 3d, the higher 

 mountains were capped with snow. 



At Greenwich, July was the hottest month in any year since 1778. 

 At Whitehaven, the mean of the day extreme was 71°*37, and that of 

 the night, 58°72, the mean temperature (65 o, 04) exceeding the ave- 

 rage of the month by 4°*88, and that of any other month on record 

 by l°-83. At Seathwaite, the mean of the maximum wa.s 69°- 17, — 

 of the minimum, 58 0, 3, — mean temperature, 63°*76 degrees. 



August was also remarkably warm, (though its mean heat was 4° 

 less than that of July) and both months were characterised by an 

 extremely disturbed electrical condition of the atmosphere. I cer- 

 tainly never remember a summer in which there occurred such nu- 

 merous and awful thunder-storms. Throughout June and July, the 

 air seem to be charged to overflowing with electricity. On several 

 nights, electric flashes of dazzling brilliancy followed each other with 

 scarcely a moment's intermission, from sunset till near sunrise ; and 

 many fields of the potato plant were completely blackened in a single 

 night. 



The winter of any year which passes over without snow, must be 

 unusually mild. The only snow seen at Whitehaven in 1852, con- 

 sisted of a kw particles which fell on the 9th of January and on the 

 1st of March, scarcely deserving the name of slight showers. 



November and December, in addition to their excessive wetness, 

 were distinguished by a very high temperature, and an almost entire 

 absence of frosty nights, which amounted to three only. At White- 



