mr. a. w. presto.n’s meteorological notes. 589 
and it was not until September that any really continued fine 
settled weather again prevailed. April was an exceedingly 
wet, unsettled month, the rainfall being more than double 
the average, and was accompanied by chilling winds and low 
temperature. Between the 6th and 23rd the temperature 
did not once touch 60 degrees, and frost occurred on eleven 
nights. 
May. 
During the first fortnight the temperature was high for 
the season, and on the nth the thermometer reached 80 
degrees in the shade, which appears to be the earliest “ eighty ” 
recorded in this neighbourhood since 1867. and, as it transpired 
in the sequel, this nth May was not only the warmest day ot 
May, but of the entire year. It is but rarely that the greatest 
heat of the year occurs in May, but the same occurrence 
happened in 1862 and 1892, although in the last-named year 
it was much later in the month. During the middle and latter 
part of the month the weather was very unsettled, with 
a great preponderance of cloud and gloom, with saturating 
rains and chilling winds. A sharp thunderstorm occurred on 
the afternoon of the 8th, and distant thunder was heard on 
some other days. The total rainfall of the month was about 
an inch above the average, and between the 13th and 31st 
there were only two days on which rain was not measured. 
J UNE. 
This was a cold, cloudy and wet month, in fact not since 
1879 has so ungenial and unseasonable a June been recorded 
in this neighbourhood. On only one day did the thermometer 
exceed 70 degrees, and the skies seemed to be continually 
dripping. The total rainfall for the month, however, was 
only .82 ins. above the normal, but the large preponderance 
of cloud, the strong, gusty winds, and the frequent falls of 
rain in small quantities took away all semblance of summer, 
and it was a dreary and depressing period. The only warm 
day (the 9th) was succeeded in the evening by a sharp thunder- 
storm, and another slight similar storm on the 29th was the 
