The Weather during the Agricultural Year , 1907-1908. 389 
middle of August. Temperature seldom rose to any very high 
level, but in the closing week of July shade readings exceeding 
80° were recorded in some parts of our midland and southern 
counties, while in the opening week of August the warmth 
was even more pronounced, the thermometer at Maidenhead 
rising on the 3rd to a maximum of 88°. On the night of 
August 11-12 a sharp ground frost was experienced locally in 
the north, and on the night of the 16-17th in the same districts 
and in some parts of the midland counties. 
After the 19th the weather again broke up completely, and 
for the remainder of the summer the conditions were cool 
and exceedingly changeable, with occasional heavy falls of rain 
in most districts. The principal downpours occurred in 
Ireland and the west of England on the 20th, in many 
isolated parts of the country on the 22nd and again between 
the 24th and 26th, and in the south of England on the 27th. 
At the close of the month the period of disturbed we'ather 
culminated in a gale of considerable severity in all the more 
western and southern parts of the kingdom, with further 
heavy falls of rain in some parts of Wales and the west of 
England. 
Owing to the general absence of heat, even in the finer 
portions of the season, the mean temperature of the summer 
was slightly below the average, though much higher than in 
1907. Rainfall was a little in excess of the normal in the 
south-east and also in the north-west of England, but deficient 
elsewhere. In our north-eastern counties little more than 
two-thirds of the average quantity was registered, and in the 
Scilly and Channel Islands less than two-thirds. Bright sun- 
shine was more abundant than usual in all but the north- 
eastern districts ; in the south-east of England the mean daily 
allowance for the whole season was nearly an hour in excess 
of the average. 
The Autumn op 1908. 
The autumn was characterised by an almost uninterrupted 
run of very mild and for the most part very dry weather. 
The only periods of cold occurred in the fourth week of 
October and the second week of November, the thermometer at 
nearly all other times being well above its average level. At 
the close of September and the beginning of October the shade 
readings were in many places the highest on record for so 
advanced a period in the season, and at the end of October the 
thermometer again rose to an exceptional level £or the time of 
year. 
At the beginning of September an important storm system 
was moving eastward across the United Kingdom, and a stiff 
[Continued on page 382.] 
