METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE AT WISLEY. 6l 



13 per cent. ; whilst London could only boast of a total of 15 hours, 

 which is but 6 per cent, of the possible amount. 



The results of the observations made at Wisley are shown in the 

 following table : 



November. 



Mean temperature of the air in shade . . 43*2° 

 Highest temperature of the air in shade . 56-0° on the 7th 

 Lowest temperature of the air in shade . 26 -3° on the 3rd 

 Lowest temperature on the grass . . 17 7 0 on the 3rd 



Number of nights of ground frost . . 10 



At depth of 

 1 ft. 2 ft. 4 ft. 



Mean temperature of the soil at 9 a.m. . 44-6° 45-9° 48*8° 

 Highest temperature of the soil at 9 a.m. 49-5° 49-0° 50*9° 

 Lowest temperature of the soil at 9 a.m. 397 0 42-9° 47-1° 

 Mean relative humidity of the air at 9 a.m. (complete saturation 



being represented by 100), 90%. 



Rain fell on 16 days, to the total depth of 1*83 inch (equivalent 



to about 8 J gallons of water to the square yard). Heaviest fall on 



any day 0*48 inch, on the 28th. 



The prevailing winds were south-westerly. 



The average velocity of the wind was 6 miles an hour. 



There were 35 hours of bright sunshine, equal to 13 per cent, of 



the greatest possible amount. 



There were 12 days on which no sunshine was recorded. 



December. — The cold weather with which the preceding month 

 closed continued into this, and in its opening days some low tempera- 

 tures were recorded by the screened thermometer as well as by the 

 thermometer exposed upon the grass. At Wisley the latter fell to 

 17 0 , but at places further north it recorded zero, and at a few it fell 

 even lower. But very soon a series of atmospheric disturbances 

 began to reach us from the Atlantic and with their arrival mild southerly 

 winds set in and continued throughout the month — occasionally, and 

 particularly at about Christmas, blowing with great violence over the 

 western parts of the Kingdom. The weather therefore became excep- 

 tionally mild, and in some places, of which Wisley was one, the mean 

 for the month was as much as 6 degrees above the average. Rainfall 

 was also abundant and in some parts excessive, but its distribution 

 over the Kingdom was somewhat peculiar ; north-eastern England 

 and Aberdeenshire had less than the average for those districts, but 

 the Midlands had rather more than their average fall, and over all 

 the western half of the Kingdom there was so large an excess that in 

 many parts the average fall was more than doubled. With so much 

 rain the month was unusually dull and the record of sunshine below 

 the average amount; at Wisley two days out of every three were 

 either entirely sunless or the sun shone for less than a quarter of 

 an hour. 



