260 The Weather during the Agricultural Year , 1904-1905. 
In May the country was largely under the influence of 
anti-cyclonic, or fine weather, systems. Early in the month 
the mean temperature differed but little from the average, 
the days being usually fine and warm, but the nights cold, 
with frequent touches of frost. About the middle of the 
period the nights became warmer, but after the 18th a spell of 
cold winds from north and north-east set in, and the weather 
became generally inclement. Hail or sleet showers fell in 
some parts of the eastern districts on the 21st and 22nd, and 
on the night of the 22nd a very sharp and disastrous frost 
was experienced over the whole country. Towards the close 
of May the wind shifted to the south-westward, and the ther- 
mometer rose steadily, the highest temperatures of the month, 
and of the spring, being observed, as a rule, on the 29th, when 
readings above 80° were recorded in the south-east of England. 
Thunderstorms occurred on the 30th and 31st in several parts 
of our eastern and southern counties. 
For the spring as a whole the mean temperature was above 
the average, the excess being small in the north-western district, 
but rather large elsewhere, and especially in the north-east and 
east. Over a considerable portion of the country the spring 
was the mildest since that of 1896. The rainfall of the spring 
was generally in excess of the normal, but was just equal to 
the average in the eastern counties, and was deficient (to the 
extent of 17 per cent.) in the north-eastern counties. In 
the south of England the total amount was 24 per cent, more 
than the average, and in the south-west 26 per cent. more. 
The duration of bright sunshine showed great variations in 
different parts of the country. In the eastern and southern 
counties it agreed very closely with the normal, while in the 
north-western counties it showed a rather large excess. In 
other districts the amount was less than the average, the defi- 
ciency being, singularly enough, greatest in the north-eastern 
counties, — the only portions of England in which the rainfall 
amounted to less than the normal. 
The Summer of 1905. 
The summer of 1905 opened very badly, especially in the 
eastern and southern districts, where the early part of June 
proved cool and exceedingly wet. In the latter half of the 
month a decided improvement took place in these districts, 
while the conditions in the west and north became less settled. 
Towards the close of June the state of affairs was again 
reversed, the weather being wet in the south and south-east, 
but drier in the west and north. July proved upon the whole 
dry and seasonable, the temperature being above the average 
during nearly the whole month, and especially in the second 
