mr. a. w. preston’s meteorological notes. 
219 
XIII. 
METEOROLOGICAL NOTES, 1890. 
(From observations taken at Blofield, Norfolk.) 
By Arthur W. Preston, F. R Met. Soc. 
Reait 2J/.th Fehmary, 1891. 
January. 
The month entered with a continuance of the seasonable winter 
weather with which December closed; but on the 5th a very 
decided change set in, and the weather was abnormally mild, 
stormy, and unsettled to the month’s end. The mean temperature 
of the month was 4 degrees above the average, and with the 
exception of 1884, which gave a slightly higher mean, there had 
been no such mild January since 1877. The most notable feature 
of the month was the almost constant prevalence of high winds 
and disastrous gales, caused by frequent deep depressions skirting 
our north-western coasts, travelling rapidly in a north-easterly 
direction. The barometer, in consequence, was most unsteady 
throughout the month, but, with the exception of the 22nd and 
23rd, no very low readings were obtained, owing to the great 
distance of the storm centres from these parts. The depression of 
the 22nd and 23rd, however, passed straight across England, and 
the barometer at 9 a.m. on the 23rd stood at 28.72 in. ; at 2 p.m. 
it had fallen to 28. G2 in., after which it rose with a rapidity almost 
unprecedented, rising 0.70 in. in seven hours, and an inch in 
twenty-four hours. This rapid rise was accompanied by a furious 
gale from the north-west, doing much damage by sea and land. 
The above reading of the barometer was the lowest noticed since 
the 8th December, 1887. The thermometer reached 50 degrees 
and upwards on nine days, and 45 degrees and upwards on twenty 
