150 
J. HOPKINSON-METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 
the humidity and cloudiness of the wet period, and thus imparting 
to it a character which seems incompatible with a wet month. The 
average duration of sunshine was nearly an hour and a half a day 
longer than usual. The most frequent winds were from the south¬ 
east, the next in frequency being south-westerly and westerly. 
Bain, sometimes with hail, fell every day hut one or two for 
the first sixteen days, but during the last fourteen only about 
a twentieth of an inch fell on the 26th and (or) 27th. In 
describing the weather of the week ending April 17th at Berkham- 
sted, Mr. Mawley refers to the decided humidity and the absence 
of bright sunshine, hut of the following week he remarks that the 
sun shone for ten hours longer than during the previous sixteen 
days, and that the most exceptional feature of the week was the 
great dryness of the air; and again, of the next week (ending 
May 1st), he says that it had “ a splendid record of sunshine ,” 
and that the atmosphere was “ unusually dry.” 
May.— Of average temperature, with a dry atmosphere, a bright 
sky, and a small rainfall on a very small number of days. The 
nights were colder and the days warmer than usual, the mean daily 
range of temperature being great, hut on no occasion was there 
a frost which did any injury to vegetation. The first half of the 
month was decidedly colder than the second half. The average 
duration of sunshine was nearly 8 hours a day, being more than 
an hour a day in excess of the mean for the month. Mr. Mawley 
reports its duration at Berkhamsted of 7\ hours a day as being the 
highest record for May for fifteen years except in 1895 and 1897 ; 
also that in the same period no other May has had so calm an 
atmosphere, and in only three has the air been drier. Nearly all 
the rain in the month fell on the 7th, 8th, and 9th, except about 
a quarter of an inch on the 29th and 30th together, and at none of 
our four stations was there an appreciable quantity between the 
10th and the 29th. Hail fell on the 7th and 8th. 
June.— A month of very similar character to May, with the mean 
temperature a little below the average, a very dry atmosphere, 
a bright sky, and a very small rainfall on a small number of days. 
The mean minimum temperature was 2 degrees below the average, 
but the mean maximum only very slightly in defect, the daily 
range therefore being greater than usual. The weather was con¬ 
tinuously cold from the 10th to the 20th. The average duration 
of sunshine was rather greater than in May, and an hour and a half 
a day in excess of the mean for the month. The wind was mostly 
southerly and south-westerly. Nearly half the total rain in the 
month fell on the 29th and 30th. Referring to the exceptionally 
small amount of moisture in the air, Mr. Mawley remarks that 
during the last fifteen years at Berkhamsted only twice previously 
has the atmosphere in June been so dry. 
July. —Very warm, with a dry atmosphere, a bright sky, and 
a rather heavy rainfall but very few wet days. The excess in 
temperature was much greater in the days than in the nights, the 
mean minimum being less than 1J degree above the average, and 
