77 
causing the fall lor the year to he 32 inches, the greatest amount 
recorded in the last thirty years, lioth months were unusually 
mild, chiefly owing to the high night temperatures, which averaged 
38.0 in November, and 30. 0 in December; only three nights of 
frost occurred in iSovember, and eight in December. Several 
strong gales were recorded during November ; the daily velocity, 
with a S. and S.W. wind, from the 23rd to the 27th, was 301, 
290, 306, 389, and 350 miles respectively. Considerable oscilla- 
tion occurred in the barometer readings during December, they 
averaged remarkably low, (29.581) and no instance of their 
reaching 30 inches was recorded. On the 9th it fell to 28.802, on 
which day a heav’y S. W. gale occurred ; 404 miles were registered, 
323 of which were traversed in the iirst twelve hours. The total 
fall of rain for the year was 8.41 inches in excess of the average. 
1873 . 
The new year began with an almost unprecedentedly high tem- 
perature, the mean for January being 40.0 ; no frost was recorded 
until the 19th, the average temperature for the first eighteen days 
was 44.2; the remaining days were much colder, the last week 
averaged only 33.0. Several strong S. and S.W. winds were 
recorded, with considerable oscillation in the barometer, which fell 
as low as 28.477 on the 20th. This depression was most remark- 
able for lasting so long ; the readings were below 29 inches during 
the whole of the 19th, 20th, and 21st. The rainfall was .45 in 
excess of the monthly average. February wa.s a cold, bleak month, 
with frequent showers of snow, sleet, and rain ; the mean temper- 
ature was 6.4 below that of January, and twenty-one nights of 
frost were recorded. A difference of so many degrees between 
January and February is very rare. INlr. Glaisher says it has only 
been exceeded once in the last hundred years, i.e., in 1853, when 
the mean temperature at Greenwich for January was 42.4, and 
February, 33.3, a difference of 9.1. The rainfall was .58 in excess. 
A strong N.E. gale was recorded on the 7th and 8th, when the 
daily velocity of the wind was 320 and 366 miles ; and a N.W. 
gale on the 27th, when 339 miles were traversed. The barometer 
pressure averaged high until the 18th, when the unusual high 
