198 
The Greai Frost 0/ 1890-91. 
in the north of Scotland there was not a single day on which the 
frost remained unbroken. 
All round the coasts of the kingdom the sea-water was warmer 
than the air during the month of December, according to the records 
received from the lightships. On the Sussex coast the excess was 
14°, on the north-east coast 6°, and off the Shetlands and round 
Ireland about 3°. Two feet below the surface of the Thames at 
Deptford the temperature of the water was continuously below 34° 
for thirty-two days, December 23 to January 23, the river being 
blocked with ice during the greater part of this time. 
In Regent's Park, where skating continued uninterruptedly for 
forty-three days, the ice attained a thickness of over 9 inches. 
Thermometers fixed at various depths in the soil, in different 
parts of the British Islands, showed that the frost had nowhere 
penetrated as far as 2 feet into the ground, but, in the south and 
east of England especially, there were several days on which it was 
recorded at a depth of one foot, whilst at 6 inches the ground was 
frozen for a month. 
The subjoined table gives details of the prolonged frosts of the 
last hundred years, from which it will be seen that in the neigh- 
bourhood of London, the cold was of longer duration than in any 
previous frost during the last century. The next longest spell was 
fifty -two days in the winter of 1794-5, whilst in 1838 frost lasted for 
fifty days, and in 1788-9 for forty-nine days ; neither the mean 
nor the minimum was, however, so low as in several previous cases. 
It is important to note that nearly all the prolonged frosts of the 
last century were followed by a fairly dry spring and summer, but 
the accompanying weather was by no means always hot. 
Prolonged Frosts of the last Century, from Observations 
MADE IN London and its Vicinity. 
Date 
Days' 
dura- 
tion 
Mean 
maxi- 
mum 
Mean 
mini- 
mum 
Mean 
of 
maxi- 
mum 
and 
mini- 
mum 
Ahso- 
hite 
mini- 
mum 
With 
mini- 
mum 
temp, 
below 
20 
deg. 
Of 
con- 
tinu- 
ous 
frost 
Day.s 
With 
daily 
mean 
32 
deg. 
or 
below 
With 
maxi- 
mum 
temp. 
32 
deg. 
or 
below 
With 
m^i- 
mitm 
temp. 
40 
deg. 
or 
above 
Abso- 
lute 
maxi- 
mum 
deg. 
• 1788-9 Nov. 2G to Jan. 13 
den. 
deg. 
de g. 
dee. 
deg. 
49 
31-3 
27-6 
29-4 
17-5 
4 
12 
33 
30 
3 
46 
1794-5 Deo IH to Feb. 7 . . 
52 
31-9 
25-3 
28-6 
7 
11 
12 
35 
23 
3 
46 
1813-4 Dec. 2« to Feb. 5 . . 
42 
33-0 
21-5 
27-3 
8 
16 
11 
32 
20 
6 
41 
1838 Jan. 6 to Feb. 23 . . 
50 
329 
24-9 
28-9 
-4-0 
9 
13 
31 
19 
5 
60 
186S Jan. 10 to Feb. 25 . . 
47 
34-8 
24-5 
29-7 
111 
12 
4 
31 
15 
7 
48 
1800-1 Dec. 15 to Jan. 19 . 
3G 
34-9 
24-H 
29-0 
8-0 
8 
3 
26 
A 
4 
47 
1879 Nov. H to Deo. 27 . . 
44 
37-2 
24-7 
31-0 
13-7 
4 
2 
22 
6 
12 
66 
1881 Jan. 7 to 2C . . . . 
20 
31-8 
221 
27-0 
12-7 
10 
9 
14 
12 
1 
41 
1890-1 Nov. 26 to Jan. 22 . 
59 
33-6 
26'0 
S9'3 
12-0 
10 
10 
41 
27 
9 
44 
' The fro.st of 1788-9 has been included, as it occurred but little more than 100 
years ago. The temperatures, however, are not from self-registering thermometers, 
I)ut tlie observations u.sed as the maximum were made at 2 p.m. and those for the 
minimum at H A.M. each day. Tlie observations for all other periods are from sclf- 
»egistciing theriuometers. 
