COUNCIL FOR 1857. 
il 
the year 1857 eight months out of the twelve were above a 
mean. January, February, April and May were below. March, 
June and July were less than one degree above a mean. The 
excess in August was September 1*4°, October 
November 8*6% and December S’S*". The highest temperature 
was on the 28th of June, 83*5% and the lowest, on the 1st of 
February, 17°. 
Five months of the year had a fall of rain below the mean of 
twenty years, viz., February, May, October, November, and 
December. The remaining months exceeded the mean. The 
greatest departure from an average fall was in August, when 
the quantity was 6*59 inches, the largest amount registered in 
this month during the last twenty-five years. The total for the 
year, 26’44 inches, exceeds a mean by 2T6 inches. 
The excess of rain in 1856 and 1857 amounts conjointly to 
4*07 inches. This fact seems to show a tendency to a restora¬ 
tion of equilibrium in the annual fall. In the ten years from 
1846 to 1855 inclusive, the mean annual fall was 23*302. 
From 1848 to 1857 inclusive, 23*796. In the twenty years 
from 1838 to 1857, 24*25. 
"Thunder and lightning have been rare during the year. 
Two occurrences are noted in July and three in September. 
From the 6th of August to the 15th, 6*5 inches of rain fell, 
but unaccompanied by the electrical displays which almost 
uniformly mark these days at York. 
The mean height of the barometrical column for the months 
of November and December was remarkably high, 30*06 in the 
former month and 30*11 in the latter, accompanied by rain 
3*93 inches less than the mean quantity. 
