The  Weather  of  the  Past  Agricultural  Year,  407 
farm  work,  so  that  the  opening  of  the  present  agricultural 
season  could  scarcely  be  regarded  as  favourable. 
The  Wintek  op  1908-9. 
The  winter  opened  with  a long  spell  of  mild  south-westerly 
breezes  and  changeable,  showery  weather,  broken  on  the  lOth 
and  11th  December  by  a rather  severe  gale  from  west  and  north- 
west, with  heavy  I'ain  in  Scotland.  Until  Christmas  time  no 
frosts  of  any  consequence  were  reported,  and  on  some  occasions 
the  mid-day  temperatures  were  unusually  high  for  the  time  of 
year,  readings  above  55“  being  reported  in  the  south  of  Ireland 
and  the  south-west  of  England  on  the  13th,  and  again, 
sporadically,  between  the  19th  and  21st.  On  Christmas 
morning,  however,  the  wind  began  to  back  to  the  south-east- 
ward, and  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  days  a stream  of  very 
cold  air  swept  over  the  United  Kingdom  from  the  Continent, 
while  heavy  snowstorms  set  in  over  nearly  the  whole  country. 
The  sharpest  frosts  were  experienced  on  the  29th  or  30th,  when 
the  sheltered  thermometer  fell  below  10“  in  many  parts  of 
central  and  southern  England,  zero  being  touched  at  Maiden- 
head, and  passed  by  1“  at  Liphook  (Hants).  On  the  surface  of 
the  snow-covered  ground  readings  below  zero  were  fairly 
common,  the  exposed  thermometer  at  Epsom  falling  8“  below 
that  level. 
The  frost  was,  however,  of  short  duration.  On  the  night  of 
December  30,  a mild  breeze  from  south  and  south-west  extended 
over  the  whole  kingdom,  and  temperature  rose  rapidljq  no 
further  frosts  of  any  severity  being  experienced  until  very 
nearly  the  middle  of  January,  and  then  only  in  Scotland. 
During  the  first  week  in  the  new  year  the  wind  was  generally 
light  and  variable,  and  the  weather  cloudy  but  fairly  mild,  but 
on  the  7th  and  8th  a cold  breeze  from  north  and  north-west 
was  accompanied  by  showers  of  snow  in  many  eastern  and 
central  districts.  After  that  a strong  current  from  south-west 
and  west  set  in  (reaching  the  force  of  a gale  on  the  13th  and 
14th),  but  in  the  latter  half  of  the  month  the  wind  was  chiefly 
from  some  southerly  quarter,  and  the  weather  dry  and  cold, 
with  thick  inland  fogs  on  the  27th  and  28th.  The  sharpest 
January  frosts  occurred  between  the  25th  and  30th,  when  the 
sheltered  thermometer  sank  below  15“  at  many  central  stations 
in  England  and  Wales.  On  the  grass  the  readings  were 
naturally  still  lower,  the  exposed  thermometer  falling  to  10“  at 
Harrogate  and  2“  at  Llangammarch  Wells,  in  Central  Wales. 
In  the  early  part  of  February  the  winds  varied  a good  deal 
in  direction  and  the  weather  was  rather  changeable,  with  heavy 
rains  in  the  north-west  of  England  between  the  2nd  and  4th. 
Towards  the  middle  of  the  month  the  wind  became  easterly 
