96 
MR. A. \V. PRESTON ON THE GREAT FROST OP 1S94-5. 
disappeared everywhere except under sheltered hedgebanks. On 
January 21st a fresh 6x11 of snow occurred, and this day may be 
said to have ushered in the second and most severe period of the 
frost, as, until February 21st, there were frosts nightly, the greatest 
intensity of cold being reached between February 6th and 14th. 
The mean temperature of the week ending February 12th was 22.4 
degrees, or about 16 degrees below the average. The coldest night 
of this period, and of the "whole winter, was the 7th, when the 
thermometer fell to 4 degrees in the screen, and to 3.5 degrees 
below zero on the grass, and in other parts of the county even lower; 
and on the 8th and 10th the low temperatures of 7.0 degrees and 
6. 1 degrees respectively were recorded in the sci’een, and 1 degree 
below zero on the grass. Each of these three nights were colder 
than any night during the severe winter of 1890 — 91. A thaw 
set in on the 21st, but it was not so decided as that of January 15th, 
and on only two nights the thermometer failed to fall below 
32 degrees. On the 24th fresh snow fell, and there were again 
sharp frosts nightly (with one exception) till March 5th, with 
snow daily. On the 6th March the temperature rose, the snow 
disappeared, and a few days later the air was more balmy and 
spring-like than had been the case for many weeks. 
In 1891 Mr. Charles Harding, F. E. Met. Soc. read a most 
interesting paper to the Eoyal Meteorological Society upon the great 
frost of 1890 — 91, to which he appended a table showing various 
details of comparison between that severe season and those of other 
prolonged frosts during the previous hundred years. Such table is 
now reproduced, with the addition of the results of the writer’s 
own observations during the frosts of 1890 — 91 and 1894 — 95 for 
comparison. When appearing in a tabulated form the details of 
the recent frost are more easily comparable with those of previous 
winters, but as the mean temperature of the entire period of 66 days 
is decidedly higher than the mean of any of the other frosts appear- 
ing in the table, although during the greatest intensity of frost 
certain nights outstripped many of the previous winters in severity, 
it has been thought better to place the results of the 1894 — 95 
frost in the table in four different periods of duration, namely : — 
(a) December 30th to February 20th (53 days). This period 
contains only one break of mildness, viz., from January 15th to 21st, 
and as the 1890 — 91 period, as given in the table, contained only 
one similar break, this may, perhaps, bo considered the fairest 
standard of comparison. From a perusal of the table it will be 
seen that the mean of the period was 1.2 degrees higher than in 
