423 Some UemctrVaUe Features in the Viinter of ISSO-'Ol. 
Rainfall. — In December the aggregate amount of rain was lesa 
than an inch in all parts of England, with the exception of the 
south-western and extreme northern counties, as well as in many 
of the central parts of Scotland, while in isolated parts of the same 
localities it amounted to less than half an inch. The amount was, 
in fact, considerably less than the average in all districts excepting 
the south coasts of Devon and Cornwall, where, owing to heavy 
falls which occurred on the Oth and 18th, there was no great diver- 
gence from the normal. In January the rainfall was far more 
abundant than in December, but the amount over the country 
generally was again much less than the average, the deficiency 
being most marked in the south-east of Scotland and the north-east 
of England. Tlie absence of rain in the months of December and 
January was, however, quite insignificant as compared with the 
remarkable drought of February. Over nearly the whole of England 
the total amount of rain in the last-mentioned period was less 
than a tenth of an inch, the only districts in which this quantity 
was exceeded being small and isolated portions of our north-eastern, 
eastern, and south eastern counties (and even in these localities 
the aggregate fall was made up largely of water yielded by dew 
and fog), and the counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and 
Lancashire, where an appreciable quantity of genuine rain fell 
during the early part of the month. In the neighbourhood of 
Dublin also the total amount was as small as it was over the 
greater part of England ; but, farther to the westward, as well as in 
Wales and the eastern parts of Scotland, it increased to between 
one tenth and one half of an inch, while in the north of Scotland 
it was in excess of the average. Over the United Kingdom generally 
the month was in all probability the driest February ever ex- 
perienced, and in many parts of England it was also the driest 
month on record, the aggregate fall in some places being absolutely 
nil. 
As regards the winter as a whole, it appears that over by far the 
greater part of England, with the eastern half of Ireland, and the 
eastern, central, and southern parts of Scotland, the aggregate 
rainfall was less than half the average, the only English localities 
in which this proportion was exceeded being the south-western and 
extreme southern coasts. In portions of Lancashire, the north- 
eastern counties, and the central parts of Scotland, the amount ^v^a,s 
less than 30 per cent, of the average, one of the smallest aggregates 
being at Blackpool, where the winter rains did not amount to more 
than one-fourth of the normal. Over the south and south-west 
coasts of England, the western half of Ireland, and portions of 
central and north-eastern' Scotland, the proportion raried between 
50 and 70 per cent, of the average, while in the north of Scotland 
(though not in the Shetlands and Hebrides) the percentage ranged 
between 70 and 90. In London the winter was not quite so dry 
as that of 1873-74, but there can be little doubt that, taking 
England as a whole, it was one of the driest on record. 
