, The Winter of 1885-86. 
415 
account of the ' Severe Weather of the Past Winter,' givea in a paper read 
before the Koyal Meteorological Society in May last, states that even 'in the 
south-west of England there was not a single week from the commencement 
of October to March 21st in which the temperature of the air did not fall to 
the freezing-point. In many parts of the British islands frosts occurred in the 
shade on upwards of sixty nights between the beginning of January and the 
middle of March, and during the long frost which commenced in the middle 
of February and continued until March 17th, the temperature fell below the 
freezing-point in many places on more than thirty consecutive nights.' 
" Taking the country throughout, the weather of the different months may 
be thus briefly described. October proved very cold, gloomy, and wet. 
November was of about average temperature, but dull and damp, and with a 
rather heavier rainfall than usual. December was cold, bright, and' dry. In 
January the weather was very cold ; but the sky was less obscured by cloud than 
is generally the case in mid-winter. The falls of snow in this month were at 
times very heavy. Februarj', the coldest month of the whole period, con- 
tinued persistently cold throughout ; in fact there has not been for thirty-one 
years past a February with a mean temiDerature as low. It was also sunless, 
and the total falls of rain and snow were small. March was characterised 
by cold easterly winds imtil the frost suddenly broke up on the 19th, after 
which date the air-temperature never once fell to the freezing-point." 
Table I. — Meteorological Observations taken at Great Berk- 
HAMSTED, Herts, between October, 1885, and March, 1886. 
Mean 
of 
Highest 
shade 
Tempe- 
rature. 
Mean 
of 
Lowest 
shade 
Tempe- 
rature. 
Lowest 
shade 
Temperature 
of 
Months. 
Lowest 
Tempe- 
rature 
on 
Grass. 
Mean 
Tempe- 
rature 
of Soil 
at 
1 foot 
at 
9 A.M. 
Mean 
Tempe- 
rature 
of Soil 
at 
2 feet 
at 
9 A.M. 
Total 
Rain- 
fall. 
Days 
oil 
which 
•01 in. 
or more 
of Rain 
or Snow 
fell. 
Days 
on 
which 
Snow 
fell. 
1885. 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
Inches. 
No. 
No. 
October . . 
51-4 
38-9 
30-7, 30th 
230 
47-9 
50-5 
5-05 
19 
November 
47-1 
37-3 
29-0, 18th 
17-6 
43-3 
45-1 
3-73 
21 
December 
42-8 
32-4 
20-4, 11th 
12-1 
39-0 
41-3 
111 
14 
4 
1886. 
January 
39-1 
28-6 
7-4, 7th 
-4-6 
35-9 
37-9 
3-91 
22 
14 
February 
36-4 
28-1 
20-1, 9th 
13-1 
341 
35-8 
0-83 
8 
6 
March . . 
451 
32-6 
16-9, 17th 
8-9 
37-3 
37-3 
1-62 
15 
10 
The following Tables give the meteorological aspects of the 
season as shown at Scarborough, for the North of England ; 
at Kenilworth, for Mid England ; at Greenwich for the South- 
East of England ; and at Frome for the West of England. The 
Tables are made up from the records of the Royal Meteorological 
Society, Mr. Symons's Rainfall Tables, from private memo- 
randa supplied me by the Astronomer-Royal, Mr. T. G. Hawley, 
and Mr. W. A. Fussell, of Mells Park, near Frome. The Tables 
are as follows : — 
