mr. a. w. preston’s meteorological notes. 95 
The above tables show that the mean temperature was 
a little over average in the winter, considerably above in the 
spring (higher than since 1896), slightly above in summer, 
and slightly below in autumn. The rainfall in winter agreed 
exactly with the normal fall, in spring it was slightly below, 
in summer it was two and a quarter inches deficient (though 
less so than in the summer of 1901), the fall of the quarter 
being less than half that of the previous summer quarter. 
In the autumn the deficiency exceeded three inches. 
The Year. 
The dreary, damp weather which had characterized the 
last six months of 1903, continued till the end of February, 
the last-named month having been the wettest of the year. 
With March a new state of things set in, and a fine, growing 
spring gave place to a magnificent summer and a warm, 
pleasant autumn. A fine show of fruit blossom in the spring 
had but little bad weather to check it, with the result that 
both summer and autumn fruits were prolific and well 
matured. The mean temperature of each of the months, 
except June, September, and November, was up to or above 
the average, and there was a deficiency of rainfall in each of 
the months of April to November inclusive, resulting in a 
falling off of the year’s rainfall to as much as 4.68 ins. below 
the mean. A marked feature was the absence of any very 
heavy falls of rain on any one day, the highest noted (.60 ins. 
on July 25th) having been the lowest year’s maximum 
recorded here since these observations began, but this fact 
applies only locally, for as above stated, over two and a half 
inches of rain occurred at Keswick (Norfolk) in a single 
thunderstorm on July 27th, the fringe only of which extended 
to Brundall. Wheat-cutting commenced about August 3rd, 
and harvest was concluded before the close of the month. 
The abnormal fogs of December were an unpleasant feature 
at the conclusion of the year. 
