536 JOURNAL OF THE BOYAL ITORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



COMPARATIVE NOTES ON THE SPRINGS AND SUMMERS 



OF 1911 AND 1912. j 



By T. H. DiPNALL, F.R.H.S. i 



The two seasons 1911 and 1912 have been remarkable in many ways, 

 but in none more than in their similarity in some respects, and their | 

 complete unlikeness in others. Their likeness in the matter of rainfall 

 was so great till the end of July that I wrote to the Curator of Ipswich 

 Museum, the nearest reliable station, and through his courtesy obtained ! 

 the figures given below. The configuration of the district in which 

 I live is such that during spring and summer the thunder showers 

 and storms divide in the west before reaching us, part passing sea- 

 wards, down the river Stour, and the other part travelling to the north, 

 and finally down the Gipping and Orwell past Ipswich to Harwich. 

 This, of course, greatly influences our summer rainfall, and in an 

 ordinary season one might safely say that we get from one to two 

 inches less rain than Ipswich between April and September. These 

 notes cover the period March 24 to September 30, and the average 

 character of each month is as follows : March, cold and rather wet, | 

 with a good deal of snow ; the worst snowstorm of the winter often | 

 occurs in this month; April, very dry and cold, with plenty of east ' 

 wind and light snow showers; May is a moderately wet month, and 

 usually cold, with sharp frost at night, in the "middle of the month ; j 

 June is usually cold and dry to about the 21st, afterw^ards hot, 

 with frequent thunderstorms ; July has a heavier rainfall than any 

 month except October, but not many wet days ; it is usually warm with 

 two or three cold wet days about the 15th ; August is hot and dry, with 

 some heavy storms ; and September is the driest and finest month of 

 all, and generally has a hot fortnight. j 



The two seasons 1911 and 1912, however, departed considerably 

 from the normal. In both years the winter months were, on the 

 whole, mild and very wet, 1912 having the milder winter, though sharp 

 frost occurred in the first week in February. In 1911 correspondingly 

 severe weather was delayed till the first week in April, when 12° 

 frost were experienced on three successive nights, and 4° at noon on 

 the 5th, on which day there were heavy snow storms which drifted to 

 a depth of 2 feet where the north-east gale made itself felt. The 

 wet weather in each year ended soon after the spring equinox, and 

 from March 24 onward the conditions were dry. The following table 



