196 
THE GREAT FROST OF 1890-91. 
The recent prolonged period of severe cold, the extraordinary dry- 
ness of the month of February, and the blizzard of the second week 
of March, have introduced some disturbing factors into the normal 
phenomena associated with an English winter. What effect such 
unusual factors will produce in the succeeding summer remains to 
be seen. Meanwhile, the concurrence of frost and drought is being 
made the subject of careful investigation on the part of meteorolo- 
gists. A valuable contribution to the inquiry was submitted to the 
Royal Meteorological Society at its meeting on February 18, by 
Mr. Charles Harding, F.R.Met.Soc, through whose courtesy the 
diagrams on pages 197 and 199 are presented. The labour involved 
in the preparation of Mr. Harding's paper, " The Great Frost of 
1890-91," was very great, the author having found it necessary to 
work up the daily observations made with verified instruments at 
about 150 stations in the British Isles, and also at a number of 
Continental stations. 
The frost prevailed from November 25 to January 22, a period 
of 59 days. It was most severe over the south-eastern counties of 
England, where the mean temperature for the entire spell was moi'e 
than 2° below the freezing point, Cambridge having a mean of only 
28-5°, whilst at seaside stations on the coast of Kent, Sussex, and 
Hampshire, the mean was 32°. In the extreme north of Scotland, 
as well as in the west of Ireland, the mean was 10° higher than 
in the south-east of England. In the southern Midlands, and in 
parts of the south of England, the mean temperature for the hfty- 
nine days was more than 10° below the average, but in the north 
of England the deficiency did not amount to 5°, and in the extreme 
north of Scotland it was less than 1°. 
The cold, in fact, decreased gradually in a northerly and westerly 
direction, the Shetlands being 11° warmer than Cambridge, the 
Hebrides 10°, Valencia 13°, and Scilly 13Jy°. In the north-east, 
north, and west of Scotland, and the north-east of Ireland, the 
deficiency of temperature was less than 2°. 
The lowest authentic reading was 0"G° at Stokesay, Shropshire, on 
December 22, and at Rounton, Yorkshire, on January 18; but almost 
equally low temperatures occurred at other jieriods of the fi'ost. At 
many places in the soutli and south-west of England, as well as in 
parts of Scotland and Ii-eland, the greatest cold throughout the 
period was registered at the end of November ; and at Waddon, in 
Surrey, the thermometer fell to 1°, a reading (juite unprecedented 
at the close of the autumn. At Addington Hills, near Croydon, the 
thei-moiueter was Ijelow the freezing point each night, with one ex- 
ception, and with only two exceptions at Cambridge^ and Reading, 
whilst in the Shetlands there were only nine nights with frost, 
altliough at lUarritz fi-ost occurred on thirty-one nigiits, and nt 
Rome on six nights. At many places in England the frost was 
continuous night and day for twenty-live days, but at coast stations 
