338 The Weather during the, Agricultural Year , 1905-1906. 
[Continued from page 335.] 
becoming cold and changeable, with showers of snow or 
sleet, and with occasional thunderstorms in various parts of 
the country. The lowest temperatures occurred between the 
27th and 29th, when sharp ground frosts were experienced 
over the more central districts. 
May, which proves so often the bright, st month of the year, 
was characterised for the most part by dull cheerless weather, 
with an excess of rain in all but the eastern districts. A burst 
of summer warmth on the 8th was accompanied by thunder- 
storms of considerable severity and by heavy rain along tne 
valley of the upper Thames ; in some places as much as 2 in. 
were measured. Thunderstorms were also experienced in 
many places on the 13th, while on the 19th a cool wind 
blowing in from the North Sea was accompanied by a very 
heavy downpour of rain in the north of England, many 
stations in Durham and Northumberland recording amounts 
varying between 2 and in. Temperature at about this 
time was generally low, with ground frosts of sufficient 
intensity to cause damage locally to the fruit and ground 
crops. Towards the end of the month the weather seemed 
to deteriorate rather than to improve, the closing week being 
marked by heavy rains in most districts, and by thunderstorms 
in the south and also in the north of England. 
For the season, as a whole, the mean temperature of the 
spring was mostly below the average, the deficiency being 
greatest in the west and south. The total rainfall exceeded 
the normal in the western parts of the country, but was below 
in all the eastern, central, and southern districts. In the 
eastern counties, only 80 per cent, of the average was recorded, 
and in the midlands only 77 per cent. The duration of bright 
sunshine was in excess of the normal in most districts, but in 
the midland counties the excess was small. In the north- 
western counties, and in the Channel Islands, the amount 
agreed very closely with the average. 
The Summer of 1906. 
The summer proved one of the finest and driest of recent 
years. In the early part of the season, brilliant sunshine 
was tempered by cool winds, so that the thermometer seldom 
rose to any very high level. Later on, the weather became 
gradually warmer, and quite at the close of August and the 
beginning of September a burst of heat of quite a phenomenal 
character for so late in the season was experienced over the 
entire country. The most striking features of an untoward 
nature were a very heavy rainstorm, which occurred in the 
south and south-east between the 28tli and 29th of June, and 
a series of thunderstorms which were developed over the 
