534 JOtiRNAL OP TJHM HOVAL llOU'LU'ULTll HAL SOCIEI'Y. 



Up to this point — the close of the first/ half of the technical year — 

 the fall of rain had been unusually abundant all over the British Isles, j 

 and in some parts it. had already amounted to, or closely approxi- j 

 mated to, the fall usually recorded in twelve months. In the west of I 

 Scotland this wetness continued throughout April, but elsewhere April 

 was an extremely dry month, certainly the driest April, and wdth 

 only one or two exceptions the driest month, on record since rainfall 

 has been satisfactorily measured and recorded. At Wisley the fall 

 only amounted to two-hundredths of an inch, and this amount fell on 

 the first day; but over the whole of England, with the exception of 

 the extreme north- west, and over the eastern counties of Scotland 

 the fall was less than half an inch, and only in those parts of the 

 Kingdom which are usually the wettest did it amount to so much as 

 an inch. The month w^as also warmer than the average, and very 

 sunny, but there were several sharp ground-frosts, and at Wisley the 

 thermometer, exposed on the grass, once fell to 17^ below freezing- 

 point, and on two other occasions to 16° and 15*^ below freezing — very 

 dangerous temperatures when vegetation is growing quickly under the 

 influence of more than usual warmth and sunshine during the day. 



In many districts the fall of rain continued to be below the 

 average during May, but not to nearly the same degree as in April. 

 But the temperature was again above the average (for the thirteenth 

 month in succession at Wisley), although the amount of sunshine was 

 smaller than is usual in May; but as was the case in March, the screen 

 of cloud which cut off the sun's heat from the earth by day conserved 

 the heat of the ground by night, and the high mean temperature was 

 thus due to the high minima, and not to unusually high maxima. 

 June, the midsummer month, was far from maintaining its. usual 

 character. In most parts of the country there was a large deficiency 

 of sunshine, but everywhere there was again a large excess of rain, 

 and in some places it fell nearly every day; thunder-storms, with 

 destructive falls of hail, also visited some districts, and in Shropshire 

 it was reported that on one occasion "heavy snow" fell with the 

 hail. With July there came some improvement in the weather, 

 although the month did not entirely maintain its character as a summer 

 month; but in the first half of it there were some really hot spells, 

 with an occasional cool day or two interspersed, and temperatures as 

 high as 90° were recorded in South-east England, and upwards of 

 80° over most of the southern half of England. The latter half of 

 the month was unsettled, and the cool spells becarne more frequent. 

 The general result was a total of sunshine less than the average, and 

 a fall oi rain somewhat in excess of the average, over most parts of 

 . the country, and more than double the average here and there. August 

 was an altogether unseasonable month both as regards temperature 

 and rainfall, the former being phenomenally low and the latter largely 

 in excess over nearly every part of the kingdom. The amount of 

 ; sunshine was also very small, and in many districts it only amounted 

 to about one-third of the normal amount, the combined result of . the 



