588 mr. a. w. preston’s meteorological notes. 
4th and February 16th, a period of 73 days, a circumstance 
which had not occurred for twelve years. A sudden depression 
of the barometer on the 19th, when the mercury fell to 28. 27 
ins., brought a violent gale from the W.N.W., and was 
attended by disasters at sea, the most serious of which was 
the wreck of the SS. Berlin at the Hook of Holland on the 
early morning of the 21st, attended with an appalling loss 
of life. Further snow fell in the last week, and the mean 
temperature of the month was lower than that of any February 
since 1902. 
March. 
Cyclonic disturbances caused great fluctuations of the 
barometer during the second and third weeks, during which 
time the weather was very changeable, with snow on the 
5th, 10th, and nth. Gales and strong winds prevailed on 
the iSth, 19th, and 20th. A remarkable change set in on 
the 20th, and the remainder of the month was rainless and 
nearly cloudless, with an abnormally high temperature on 
many days. In March, 1906, a temperature of 67 degrees 
was registered on the 7th, which was the earliest date of so 
high a reading for eighty years past. In 1907 the highest 
March temperature for seventy-seven years was recorded, 
viz., 70 degrees on the 30th. The brilliant and warm weather 
fortunately extended over the Easter holidays, which, although 
a “ March Easter,” even outstripped the fine weather of the 
previous Easter, when the festival occurred in the middle of 
April. The mean temperature of the month was 3 degrees 
above the average, and the continuous sunshine at the close 
of the month rapidly transformed the appearance of the 
country and forced on the fruit blossoms and garden flowers. 
April. 
The fine weather with which March closed lasted till the 
3rd April, although an ominously falling barometer threatened 
a break-up at an earlier date. But it is a remarkable fact 
that when once a break-up did take place it was in earnest* 
