412  The  Weather  of  the  Past  Agricultural  Year. 
[Continued  from  page  4fi9.] 
The  Summer  of  1909. 
The  brilliant  weather  which  prevailed  so  extensively  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  spring  was  followed  by  one  of  the  dullest  and 
coldest  Junes  on  record.  For  a large  portion  of  the  month  the 
wind  was  in  the  north,  and  although  it  seldom  blew  with 
much  strength  its  influence  was  quite  sufficient  to  keep  the 
thermometer  well  below  the  average  level,  the  only  periods  of 
anything  like  summer  warmth  being  three  short  spells  which 
occurred  respectively  at  the  beginning,  around  the  middle,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  month.  Between  the  4th  and  6th  there  were 
many  places  in  which  the  thermometer  failed  to  rise  much 
above  50“ — a point  which  is  usually  surpassed  at  some  time  or 
another  in  the  coldest  English  winters.  In  the  first  fortnight 
very  little  rain  fell  in  the  more  northern  districts,  but  in  the 
south  and  east  the  prevalence  of  thunderstorms  between  the 
1st  and  3rd  was  accompanied  by  heavy  downpours  in  many 
places,  the  fall  on  the  former  date  amounting  to  an  inch  and  a 
half  at  Southampton,  Reading,  and  Offley,  and  to  rather  more 
than  an  inch  and  a half  at  Maidenhead  and  Swarraton  (Hants). 
In  the  latter  half  of  the  month  thunderstorms,  accompanied  in 
many  places  by  torrential  rains  wete  more  general,  the 
principal  cases  occurring  between  the  21st  and  the  24th. 
In  the  south  of  England  July  was  less  cloudy  than  June, 
but  over  the  country  generally  the  weather  was  again  cool, 
unsettled,  and  unusually  windy,  especially  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  month.  Between  the  17th  and  21st  a short  burst  of 
summer  warmth  was  experienced,  the  thermometer  rising 
above  75“  in  many  parts  of  our  eastern  and  southern  counties, 
but  at  other  times  the  maximum  temperatures  were  often 
below  60“,  and  on  the  11th  several  places  in  the  north  and  east 
failed  to  record  a reading  as  high  as  55“.  The  heaviest  fall  of 
rain  occurred  on  the  27th,  when  more  than  an  inch  was 
measured  over  a considerable  portion  of  our  southern  counties, 
more  than  an  inch  and  a half  at  Watergate  (Sussex),  and  more 
than  an  inch  and  three  quarters  at  Plymouth. 
August  opened  with  a tremendous  downpour  of  rain  in  the 
north-east  of  England,  amounting  at  Hull  to  nearly  two  inches 
and  three  quarters.  On  the  2nd,  however,  an  anticyclone 
extended  in  from  the  westward,  and  in  the  succeeding  fort- 
night the  country  enjoyed  the  longest,  and  in  fact  the  only 
long,  spell  of  fine  warm  weather  of  the  whole  summer. 
Bright  sunshine  was  abundant,  and  on  the  6th  or  7th  the 
thermometer  in  the  shade  rose  slightly  above  80“  in  many 
districts,  while  on  the  12th  it  exceeded  85“  over  an  equally 
wide  area,  and  touched  90“  at  Maidenhead.  During  another 
burst  of  warmth,  on  the  15th  readings  varying  between  80“  and 
85°  were  again  recorded  in  many  parts  of  England,  and  a 
