433 
The Weather of the Past Agricultural Year. 
22nd was especially severe in the south of England, and resulted 
in the destruction of Worthing pier. The mean temperature 
of March was above the average, but there was an almost entire 
absence of genial spring days, very few places experiencing at 
any time a shade reading as high as 60°. The only frost of any 
consequence occurred early on the 18th, when the sheltered 
thermometer fell to 20° at Fulbeck, to 19° at Bellingham, and 
to about 15° in some parts of central Scotland. In April the 
weather was almost as rough as in March, stormy periods 
occurring about the 11th, between the loth and 20th, and 
between the 26th and 29th. The gales of the lltli were from 
the Southward, but the wind was unusually cold, and was 
accompanied in many districts by considerable falls of snow. 
On the 11th and 12th the thermometer over the northern and 
central parts of Great Britain rose very little above the freezing 
point, and on the night of the 12th it fell many degrees below 
it, a shade minimum of 19° being recorded as far south as 
Wokingham. In the closing week there was, for the first time 
in the season, a welcome touch of spring warmth, the thei- 
mometer at inland stations in the south-east of England 
touching 70°. The weather was, however, still very unsettled, 
and on the evening of the 29th thunderstorms of considerable 
severity were experienced over a large portion of the country. 
In May the weather was of a proverbially changeable chaiactei, 
but in the south and east of England it was much drier than 
in March or April. Throughout the greater part of the month 
the thermometer was low, and at the close of the fiist week 
sharp ground frosts were experienced in most places. Thunder- 
storms occurred in the southern counties on the 2nd, and heavy 
falls of rain in many northern districts on the 9th and 10th, 
but after the latter date the weather improved, and in many 
places in the south and east of England no rain was experienced 
for more than a fortnight. In the closing week the weather 
became thundery and very warm, shade temperatures of 80 
and upwards being experienced on several occasions and m 
many parts of England. In the London district where the 
thermometer on the 26th and 27th touched 84°, a shade 
reading exceeding 80° was recorded on each of the six days, 
May 25 to 30, a spell of warmth without precedent m the 
Mays of the previous half century. 
For the spring as a whole the mean temperature was, it 
anything, slightly above the average. Rainfall was greatly m 
excess of the normal, both as regards frequency and intensity. 
At most places situated in the western and southern districts 
there were at least twelve to fifteen more rainy days than usual, 
with a total fall amounting to more than half as much again as 
the average, the wettest region being in the south-west, where 
