Extremes of mean 17. According to the above figures, the extremes of mean tempera- temperature in the several Provinces were as follows:— Temperature 1887. The highest mean temperature was at Windsor, Ontario, viz., 47.81, and the lowest at Fort Chipewyan, N.W.T., 26·65. 18. The following information respecting the weather of 1887 has been taken from the Monthly Weather Review, a useful publication issued by the Superintendent of the Meteorological Service at Toronto. The mean temperature and total precipitation at a station in Prince Edward Island, and at the capitals of the other Provinces and of the Territories have been given, with remarks applicable to all parts of the Dominion. The first table gives the mean temperature at the places named in each month in 1887 :— MEAN TEMPERATURE AT THE UNDERMENTIONED PLACES IN CANADA. MEAN TEMPERATURE AT THE UNDERMENTIONED PLACES-C n. The average in all cases means the average obtained from thirteen years' observation, except where otherwise mentioned. The temperature in January was below the average for the month in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick; at Winnipeg it was as much as 8°.1 below. In Nova Scotia and British Columbia, the temperature was above the average. The lowest temperature was registered at Regina, viz., 52 below zero, and the highest at Halifax, 54°9. In February the temperature was below the average at all the stations, except a few on Lakes Erie and Ontario; at Medicine Hat, N.W.T., it was 236 below the average of three years. The lowest temperature was again registered at Regina, viz., 48° below zero, and the highest at Victoria, 59°. In March and April the temperature was generally below the average, except in the latter month in Manitoba and the North-West. In May, June and July the temperature was very generally above the average, especially in May when it was universally so, and the exceedingly hot weather during these three months will long be remembered. In Toronto the mean temperature in May was 6o 51 higher than the average of fortyseven years, and in Montreal 60-35 higher than the average of thirty years. The highest recorded temperature in this month was 939-3 at Windsor, Ont. The same temperature was recorded at a number of places during the following Rain and snowfall 1867. June, while in July, the thermometer reached 97°2 at Toronto, and 100° at several places in Ontario. This period of excessive heat was followed by unusually cool weather in August, September and October, the temperature being generally below the average, particularly in the two latter months. The temperature in November and December was, on the whole, slightly below in the former and above the average in the latter month. 19. The next table gives the total precipitation in inches during the year at the same places: TOTAL PRECIPITATION IN INCHES AT THE UNDERMENTIONED The weather 1887. 20. The precipitation in January and February was generally above the average, particularly in Ontario and Quebec in February, when the snowfall was very heavy. In แ the city of Quebec forty-eight inches fell in January, fiftynine inches in February, and thirty-seven inches in March. In May the rainfall throughout the Dominion was very light, many districts being absolutely rainless, and the crops suffered much from drouth in consequence. In June the rainfall was generally below the average, and in July it was almost universally so throughout the Dominion, “but," Mr. Carpmael says "the mere expression of the rainfall "being below the usual quantity, conveys but a poor idea of "the effect of the drouth, in many parts of the Dominion crops ruined, pastures burnt up, wells running dry and the "foliage of the trees resembling October instead of mid"summer." In August and September the rainfall was again below the average, particularly in September, and in the N. and N. E. parts of Ontario, in many places the pastures were destroyed, and the farmers forced to feed hay to their cattle. In October rain was still lacking, being the eighth month during which in some parts of the Dominion, the same conditions had prevailed. In November the fall was an average one, but was generally above the average in December, especially in British Columbia. Remarkable meteor in September 1887. 21. A remarkable meteor was observed in the Maritime Provinces on 15th September, of which a number of on accounts have been furnished, the best of which is probably that of Mr. M. H. Nickerson, of Barrington, as follows: "As "observed in Barrington, the meteor appeared at an altitude "of say 60°, in a direction about N. by W. and at 8:34 local 'time. Its course as near as could be judged was S.S.E. "Its maximum brightness was attained at the moment of its "vanishing. The point of its disappearance was about S. "25° E, and at an altitude of 20°. As the meteor was in the 46 form of a speroid, its greater apparent diameter was nearly "twice that of the moon, and one-third longer than the less. Monthly Weather Review, September, p. 7. |