93 
mr. a. w. Preston’s meteorological notes. 
RAINFALL. 
Beaaous. 
1800. 
1891. 
1892. 
1893. 
1894. 
20-ycar 
average 
l>e|Kirture 
of 1891 from 
average. 
in. 
in. 
in. 
in. 
in. 
in. 
in. 
Winter ... 
4.8ft 
3.1ft 
6.36 
5.80 
4.81 
6.02 
+ 1.21 
Spring ... 
5.14 
6.64 
5.1ft 
1.61 
5.62 
5.21 
1 —0.41 
Summer ... 
9.61 
9.39 
10.20 
5.37 
8.74 
7.17 
+ 1.57 
Autumn ... 
... 6.87 
7.0ft 
11.15 
6.10 
7.12 
8.50 
— 1.38 
Year 
... 25.96 
28.35 
31.05 
19.66 
27.32 
26.9ft 
+ 0.42 
It will bo thus seen that the winter was slightly warmer than the 
average. It was, in fact, the mildest winter since 1884, notwith- 
standing the sharp spell of cold at the beginning of the year. 
The spring months were warmer than the mean, although, through 
the coldness of May, the table shows a considerably lower standard 
of temperature than the spring of 1893, which was an exceptionally 
mild one. The temperature of the summer was slightly below, and 
that of the autumn slightly above the average. There was no 
remarkable excess or deficiency in the rainfall of any quarter; the 
totals for the winter and autumn being slightly below, and those 
of the spring and summer a little above the normal fall. 
Y EAR. 
Altogether the year 1894 was a disappointing one both to the 
agriculturist and pleasure-seeker, a tine, warm spring, with promise 
of abundant crops, was followed by a long period of damp sunless 
weather ; neither cold nor warm, nor yet with an excessive amount 
of rainfall. The frequency of light falls of rain during the summer 
and autumn was very depressing, and the only really summerlike 
periods of the year were from March 22nd to April 12th, and from 
June 21st to July 6th. Owing to the frequency of rain during 
the summer and autumn the year’s total of days on which rain 
was registered amounted to 220, which was the largest the writer 
ever recorded, the next on the list being 1888 with 213 days. 
The year was altogether, with the exception of the month of March, 
a great contrast to the previous one. 
It may be mentioned that the instruments from which the 
foregoing observations were taken were inspected during the year 
by Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., one of the Secretaries of the Royal 
Meteorological Society, who expressed the greatest satisfaction both 
with the quality of the instruments and their exposure. 
