mr. a. w. preston’s meteorological notes. 
oi 
half of the mouth, and, except perhaps to the farmer and gardener, 
who wanted more rain, it was as fine a summer month as could 
well be wished for. 
July. 
It is hut seldom that so fine and warm a July as that of 1899 
has to be recorded. Such a long succession of bright, warm days 
is but rarely met with even in the finest summers. At times the 
heat was very intense, the thermometer exceeding 75 degrees on 
thirteen days, and 80 degrees on four days, the highest point 
touched during the month being 85 degrees on the 20th. But the 
day temperatures were not so exceptional as those of the nights. 
On six occasions the thermometer failed to fall below GO degrees, 
and many other of the minima were nearly as high. The mean 
minimum temperature for the month was 55 degrees, which is 
considerably higher than in any July since 1884. Nearly the 
wholo month’s rainfall occurred on the 22nd and 23rd, the 
amounts gauged at Brundall being respectively 0.50 in. and LOG 
in. on those two days. So dry was the soil that this heavy fall of 
rain was soon absorbed, and, being followed by a renewal of the 
dry weather, the ground at the end of the month was nearly as 
parched as before the downpour reached us. A somewhat severe 
thunderstorm occurred on the morning of the 23rd, but there was 
an unusual absence of electrical disturbance during the greater 
part of the month. 
August. 
The same dry, fine weather, which characterized the entire 
Summer, continued throughout August, broken only by a severe 
electric commotion on the 15th, and some thunder-showers on 
the last three days of the month. Such a prevalence of bright, 
sunshiny days has not been recorded for many years. The maximum 
temperature would have been higher on many days (as was the case 
further inland) had it not been for the prevalence of easterly and 
north-easterly breezes, which considerably subdued the heat. The 
rainfall at Brundall was only 0.76 in., or 1.76 in. below the average. 
A third of the amount fell during the thunderstorm of the 15th. 
This storm varied much in its severity in different localities, as 
much as 2.84 in. of rain having been gauged at W'ereham, in West 
Norfolk, during its progress. 
