MR. A. W. PRESTON S METEOROLOGICAL NOTES. 
95 
The Year. 
The winter was cold and protracted, though it could hardly 
be called a severe winter of the first rank. The worst of this 
winter occurred in March, which in the foregoing table is 
reckoned as one of the spring months. Commencing with 
April, a bright, sunshiny spring ensued, cold at times, with 
sharp morning frosts, but very warm at the end of May. 
With the advent of June a cloudy, cold, ungenial period set 
in, dry at first, but afterwards becoming very wet, and this 
type of weather, broken only by a fine fortnight in the first 
half of August, lasted till well into September. Between 
June 22nd and August 3rd, and again between August 16th 
and September 19th, there were never more than two days 
together without rain. The summer w r as indeed an ungenial 
one, even worse than 1907, which it 'resembled in many 
particulars, but it was less wet and cold than in 1879. The 
last three months of the year were very variable, warm in the 
first half of October, but with much rain at times, particularly 
in October and December. Between September 24th and 
December 12th there was a further period during which there 
never were more than two days together without rain. The 
falls of rain, both in the summer and the autumn, were more 
remarkable for frequency than for the largeness of the amounts 
registered. While the total rainfall for the year (27.82 ins.) 
was 2 ins. above the average, the annexed comparative table 
shows that this amount was exceeded both in 1906 and 1903. 
The number of days with rain during the year, however, (233), 
not only is the largest in the table, but on my records back to 
1883. Harvest commenced in the middle of August, although 
at the close of July the corn was so backward that it seemed 
as if cutting would not commence before September. The 
warmth in the earlier part of August, however, accelerated 
the ripening. The subsequent fickle weather made the later 
harvest very protracted, and in some cases farmers had not 
cleared their fields by the advent of November. 
