The  Summer  of  lyOi. 
387 
the  north  of  England,  and  on  the  2oth  in  many  other  parts  of 
the  country.  As  the  depression  passed  away  over  the  North 
Sea  a cold  northerly  wind  spread  over  England,  and  on  the 
night  of  the  27th  a slight  ground  frost  occurred  in  parts  of  the 
northern  and  central  districts.  Throughout  the  whole  of  June 
the  weather,  though  so  often  fair  and  dry,  was  never  very 
warm,  the  highest  shade  temperature  registei'ed  being  only  80", 
a reading  observed  at  Maidenhead  on  the  last  day  of  the  month. 
With  the  commencement  of  July  the  conditions  became 
more  summer-like,  and  in  the  earlier  half  of  the  month  the 
only  serious  exceptions  to  a fine  warm  sjjell  were  occasioned 
by  thunderstorms  which  visited  the  northern  and  eastern 
counties  on  the  2nd  and  3rd,  Devon,  Cornwall,  and  the  Channel 
Islands  on  the  11th,  and  a more  extended  portion  of  the  country 
on  the  12th.  The  rainfall  of  the  period  was  therefore  slight, 
and  temperature  was  usually  above  the  average,  the  highest 
readings  being  observed  between  the  9th  and  11th,  or  between 
the  15th  and  17th,  when  the  thermometer  rose  to  85“  or  more 
in  several  places.  At  Bramley  and  Maidenhead  the  shade 
reading  on  the  17th  was  as  high  as  91°.  After  the  18th  the 
weather  gradually  became  less  settled,  and  between  the  22nd 
and  27th  hiunderstorms  and  heavy  rains  occurred  in  all  districts, 
the  largest  individual  amounts  being  recorded  between  the 
24th  and  2(5tli.  On  the  24th  as  much  as  3*8  in.  fell  at  Hudders- 
field, while  on  the  25th  2'3  in.  fell  at  Bennington  and  2'0  in. 
at  Buxton.  At  the  close  of  the  month  further  thunderstorms 
occurred  in  several  districts,  the  accomijanying  rainfall  amount- 
ing on  the  30th  to  in.  or  more  in  some  parts  of  our  eastern 
counties,  and  to  as  much  as  2‘2  in.  at  Hillington,  of  which 
1'6  in.  fell  in  thirty-five  minutes. 
At  the  beginning  of  August  a short  spell  of  fine,  hot  weather 
again  set  in,  the  thermometer  rising  on  the  3rd  or  4th  to  con- 
siderably above  80“  in  most  places,  to  90"  at  Margate,  and  to 
91“  in  London  and  at  Maidenhead.  The  heat  was,  however, 
followed  (juickly  by  severe  thunderstorms,  heavy  local  rains,  and 
a decided  fall  of  temperature,  and  until  very  nearly  the  close 
of  the  month  the  weather  was  rather  cool, — mostly  fair  in  the 
eastern  and  southern  districts,  but  less  settled  in  the  west  and 
north.  A stiff  gale  from  south-west  and  west  prevailed  in 
the  western  districts  on  the  6th,  and  again  between  the  13th 
and  14th  ; while  on  the  17th  thunderstorms  and  heavy  rain 
occurred  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  the  latter  amounting  to 
1'9  in.  at  Cheadle  and  1‘6  in.  at  Aberystwyth.  Between  the 
21st  and  23rd  further  heavy  rains  were  experienced  in  many 
places,  with  thunderstorms  in  the  northern,  eastern,  and  south- 
eastern counties ; but  at  the  close  of  August  the  weather  became 
finer  and  warmer,  the  thermometer  rising  on  the  30th  to  80" 
cc  2 
