214 
J. UOPKI^sSON—METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 
weeks only were wet, no appreciable amount of rain falling during 
the last week. The duration of sunshine was below the average. 
The prevailing direction of the wind was SAY., closely followed by 
E. and W. 
March.— Cold, humid, and cloudy, but with very little rain, 
except for a few days at the beginning and end of the month. 
The days only were unseasonably cold, the nights being very little 
colder than usual. This was especially the case during the first 
week. Snow which fell on the 3rd covered the ground to the 
depth of about an inch, being deeper than at any time in the Winter. 
The duration of sunshine was considerably below the average. The 
prevailing direction of the wind was N.E., closely followed by 
IS", and E. 
April. —Yery warm, with a dry atmosphere, an average amount 
of cloud, and a very small rainfall. The high temperature was 
due much more to the warmth of the nights than to that of the 
days, the mean daily range being small. About one third of the 
rain fell on the 22nd, which was almost the only wet day in the 
second half of the month. There was a little more sunshine than 
usual. Westerly winds very greatly prevailed, and there was a 
remarkable absence of easterly winds. 
May.— Of average temperature, rather humid, and very cloudy 
and wet. The nights were very warm and the days rather cold, 
the mean daily range of temperature being unusually small. Only 
a few days (6th to 10th) were cold. There were eight days in 
succession (12th to 19th) without any rain. There was an unusual 
absence of sunshine, the duration being two hours a day less than 
the average. The wind was due west for about two-thirds of the 
month and scarcely ever at all northerly. 
June. —Cold, with a dry atmosphere, an average amount of 
cloud, and a very small rainfall. The days were about twice as 
much colder than usual than were the nights. No rain fell for the 
seven days 2nd to 8th, nor for the eight days 16th to 23rd. There 
was a little more sunshine than usual. The wind was mostly 
W. or S.W., seldom E. or N.E. At Berkhamsted on the 2nd, 
Mr. Mawley states, shortly after 3 p.m. during a sharp thunder¬ 
shower, rain fell for three minutes at the rate of 3f ins. an hour. 
July. —Yery warm, with a very dry atmosphere, a very bright 
sky, and a heavy rainfall, but few wet days. The high tempera¬ 
ture was due nearly twice as much to the warmth of the days as 
to that of the nights, the mean daily range therefore being great. 
The seventeen days 8th to 24th were the hottest. The maximum 
temperature exceeded 75° on each of these days but the 20th, and 
it exceeded 80° on the 9th, 10th, 15th, and 17th. Nearly all the 
rain fell after the 24th during a succession of thunderstorms. On 
the 30th at Berkhamsted, in the first and most severe of two 
thunderstorms, rain fell in the nine minutes ending 1.30 p.m. at 
the rate of nearly If in. an hour. The duration of sunshine was 
nearly two hours a day more than the average. The wind was 
mostly from S. to W. 
