METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

THE following summary of the meteorological calculations of this extraordinary year, sent to the Times, by Dr. Allnatt, of Frant, from observations taken at his residence, 495 feet above the mean level of the sea, may be fitly appended to our "Chronicle: "—

JANUARY.

This wet and tempestuous month was marked by specific features characteristic of great elemental perturbation. The cloud modifications often presented forms of the most symmetrical structural beauty, and at sunset ponderous radii were produced by the action of the dynamical electro-magnetic forces of the atmosphere. Gales of disastrous violence swept over England and the Continent of Europe, some straight and persistently equatorial, and some cyclonic, with sudden alternations of direction. A hurricane on the 17th came in squalls of impetuous force, and another on the 23rd-24th was accompanied with vivid lightning, thunder, hail, and bursts of heavy rainfall. Pressures were generally low, and during the culminating squall of this great gale the barometer ran down to 27.70 in.-the lowest point I ever remember to have recorded at Frant. On twenty-four days the temperature was in excess, and on five nights it was below the freezing-point of Fahrenheit. The ultimate range of the mean was from 31.6 deg. to 443 deg. There were no severe frosts, and the mean of the month was 1 deg. in excess.

A despatch from Adelaide describes a wave of intense heat that visited South Australia for 12 days; the thermometer never fell below 80 deg., and ranged to 108 deg. in shade. Great mortality ensued.

The rainfall in England during this month was in excess, and the low lands in many districts were flooded. In some parts of Devonshire the guage exceeded 12 in. In this part of Sussex the surplus was 3·87 in.

FEBRUARY.

During the 29 days of this month the mean temperature was in excess on 24 days, storm-cloud was the predominant modification, and the wind was almost persistently equatorial. On some days, after sunset, the ascending vapour was wrought by the electro-magnetic conditions of the atmosphere into symmetrical radii. On the 18th an equatorial gale blew all night and far into the following day. On the 25th a rough and squally wind brought up flying rain clouds, and in Scotland and on the Yorkshire coast freshened into a wild tempestuous gale destructive to human life. On the 29th a stiff gale passed over the southern coast.

On the evening of the 4th there was a grand and a simultaneous display of the Austral and Boreal Aurora. Advices subsequently reached us that it was

seen in England, France, Lisbon, Constantinople, Alexandria, Bombay, Suez, and Aden. Probably an electro-magnetic zone surrounded the earth.

Rain fell on 16 days, and, notwithstanding the copious falls of the preceding month, the gauge was again in excess. On the evenings of the 16th, 18th, 19th, and 22nd lunar coronæ and halos existed with marked chromatic peripheries. On the night of the 11th a great atmospheric wave of cold passed over the continent of America. At Chicago the mercury suddenly fell 33 deg. The wave then passed S.E. at the rate of 25 or 30 miles an hour. The thermometer dropped 15 deg. below zero, and the barometer rose as rapidly as the thermometer fell.

MARCH.

Advices from South Australia state that up to the 15th of this month no such continuous heat had been for many years known at Adelaide and throughout the colonies. There existed also an unusual dearth of water. In England, on the contrary, the consecutive months of the new year had been preternaturally wet, and March, from the 20th, abnormally frigid. From the 1st to the 26th there were 13 days on which rain fell, and the ultimate range of excess over the estimated value was upwards of 5.25 in. In Devonshire, near the coast, the rainfall exceeded 12 in. This is the third or fourth time I have placed in apposition the coincident meteorological conditions of the opposite hemispheres, and in all cases the equilibrium of the atmosphere appears to have been destroyed.

From the beginning of the month to the 9th the temperature was above the average; then came a period below the computed value. The temperature again rose, but was soon followed by another fall, and from the 20th to the 27th was a season of great rigour. The night temperature ranged from 24 deg. to 29 deg., and on each occasion hard frosts prevailed. On the 22nd the mean was 12.1 deg., and on the 26th 10-2 deg. below the average. On the evening of the 28th the wind backed from Pole to Equator, and a tempestuous gale sprang up and raged in paroxysms of great force throughout the night into the evening of the following day, with squalls of heavy rainfall. In 48 hours the mean temperature had run up from 32 deg. to 51 deg.—a range of nearly 20 deg. During the last four days the temperature was in

excess.

APRIL.

The temperature of this month shows 18 days of excess, 11 of deficiency, and one day of equal temperature-that is to say, it tallied with the computed average of 50 years. The range was from 37 to 57 deg.; the difference, therefore, between the maximum and minimum was 20 deg.

On the 4th a frigid wave passed over and sent down the thermometer to 29 deg. On the following morning the mercury stood at 40 deg.

Equatorial winds prevailed on 18 days, and rain fell on 15 days, and was again excessive.

Widespread and destructive thunderstorms raged on the 25th and 26th, with vivid lightning and loud peals of thunder. On the 10th an aurora appeared in N.w. that consisted of bright homogeneous light, interspersed with the dark lenticular Polar matter so often seen in auroras. On the 21st a luminous solar rainbow, with well-defined chromatic periphery, spanned the

sun.

N.E. horizon, and on the following day another was produced by the setting On the 28th and 29th there were solar halos for several hours. In South Australia the heat this month was excessive; 66 no such continuous heat," says the report, "has been known for several years, and the colonies throughout are threatened with drought."

In Southern India a cyclone of great force bore up from the Bay of Bengal, traversed the coast of Ceylon at the speed of 170 miles an hour, and committed great havock in its onward course. This great wind current is stated to have been 400 miles in circumference.

MAY.

This month presents an aspect peculiarly ungenial. From the 1st to the 4th the diurnal averages of temperature were somewhat in excess, but from the 5th to the 25th inclusive a consecutive run of temperature occurred far short of the normal standard. On the 11th it was no less than 12.3 deg. below the mean, and on the 12th the night temperature sank to 300 deg. of Fahrenheit. On the whole day the average was 9'4 deg. below the mean of 50 years. On the 18th and 19th the defalcation was 13.3 deg. and 11.5 deg. respectively below the acknowledged mean.

From almost all parts of England the prevalence of cold and stormy weather is reported, and during this inclement period snow and sleet were of frequent occurrence, and the electro-magnetic conditions of the atmosphere were so abnormally developed that even during the prevalence of frigid polar winds thunderstorms of destructive violence raged. In Yorkshire the hills were covered with snow, and by the biting winds vegetation throughout the whole country was greatly retarded, and early crops of vegetables destroyed. In accordance with the preternatural development of the elemental forces the cloud modifications often presented a grand and imposing spectacle, especially during the violent storms which prevailed throughout the month. Heavy thunderclouds often overspread the whole heavens, and sometimes the sky was chequered by a canopy of silvery ripple marks. On the evening of the 28th an aurora appeared in the eastern horizon, and the stars shone with preternatural lustre as through a gauze veil, produced by the interception of the polar matter of the aurora.

JUNE.

This was a variable month, and somewhat remarkable for the demonstration of the local diversities of its thermal conditions. On the 5th the night temperature was 440 deg.; morning, 56'0 deg.; and afternoon, 65'0 deg.; mean of day, 550 deg. On that date at Egremont, Cheshire, a sheet of ice formed on exposed water, and at Newton it was reported that ice as thick as a shilling appeared on the morning of the 6th. The highest night temperature here was on the 17th, and registered 61.0 deg.; the lowest, 400 deg., was on the 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 8th; the range, therefore, was 210 deg. The highest morning temperature was 720 deg., the lowest 480 deg., the range 24-0 deg. The highest mid-day temperature happened on the 18th and 19th, when. 760 deg. were respectively registered. This was the culminating point of day temperature in shade, and the maximum excess over the computed value reached 10-5 deg.

The predominant cloud modification was the nimbus or storm cloud. Two

days alone were cloudless. The wind was almost entirely equatorial, and when accompanying thunderstorms blew in intermittent squalls of consider able force. A gale raged on the night of the 27th and morning of the 28th. Atmospherical pressure was persistently low, and never attained 300 in. On the 9th it stood at its most depressed point, 28-85 in., and on the 16th at its highest, 29.95 in. The range was therefore moderate, and the diurnal oscillations were gentle.

The electric storms of the month occurred under somewhat anomalous elemental conditions. On the 5th a thunderstorm raged in a cold N.E. wind, and a mean temperature, 5.4 deg., below the average. On the 8th another storm, with a bitter wind, sleet, and hail, traversed the Chilterns. On the 9th, up to the 28th, no less than nine equatorial thunderstorms visited England.

JULY.

The meteorology of this month may almost be summed up by stating that it consisted of one grand prolonged series of demonstrations of the powers of elemental electricity. Thunderstorms invaded England and the Continent of Europe. Streets were submerged, houses flooded, and the low-lying lands of England buried deeply beneath the waters. Horses and cattle were drowned, and great damage to property ensued. In Switzerland, among the Alps, the scenes during the electric storms are described as of surpassing sublimity.

Throughout the month warm, humid, equatorial winds predominated; on four days only polar winds blew. The coldest day was the 15th, when a transient north-easterly wind brought down the temperature, and produced an opaque

land fog.

The temperature during the first eight days was, with one exception, above the mean. On the 6th it was 6.5 deg., and on the 7th 7·9 deg., in excess. On the latter day, at 2 p.m., the shade heat reached 78 deg.

It is a curious fact that the accession of this sultry weather should be almost coincident with abnormal heat in America. On the 21st, at 2 p.m., shade heat in England was 75 deg., and solar radiation 118 deg.; Fahrenheit's thermometer, with blackened bulb, enclosed in a glazed box, and excluded from air, rose to 165 deg. The 25th and 27th were the hottest days, and the mean respectively was in excess 12.2 deg. The coldest day, or rather the day of minimum heat, was 5.9 deg. below the average. Ozone attained its maximum development on 20 days.

AUGUST.

Equatorial and polar winds were this month tolerably fairly balanced. On the 5th a moderate gale blew from the south, and on the 10th a southwesterly gale raged with considerable fury on the Kentish coast, and extended to Suffolk and the eastern shores. From the 18th to the 24th the wind was polar, but the effect on temperature was barely perceptible. On the 25th the wind again became tropical, until the 27th, when it shifted to north-east, and became variable.

The range of pressure was from 28.80 in. to 29.90 in. The diurnal oscilla

tions were considerable, and the period of maximum change was on the 7th and 8th, when in a few hours the barometer leaped from 28.95 in. to 29.60 in. After a uniform run of excessive temperature throughout the greater portion of July, on the 31st of that month a sudden depression occurred, and the temperature fell from 64.4 deg. to 548 deg.-a fall in a few hours of 9.6 deg. This depression ran into the present month, and continued, with one exception, from the 1st to the 15th inclusive. A rise then occurred, and, with another single exception, bore on to the 26th. The mean then became below par to the end of the month. On the 7th and 8th a range was made in 24 hours of 11.3 deg.

1

Destructive thunderstorms of wide area ranged on the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 23rd, 25th, and 26th. Much damage to life and limb ensued, and great destruction to property; and a wide expanse of country was laid beneath the floods.

During the humid south-westerly winds ozone reached its maximum development on 20 days.

SEPTEMBER.

Floods and disastrous thunderstorms again characterized this month. On the morning of the 3rd, which was oppressively sultry, an electric storm passed over the meridian of Sussex, with lightning, thunder, and heavy rainfall. At Liskeard a flash fired the coil of a telegraph instrument, melted a gas-pipe, and set fire to the chamber in which it was placed. In North Shropshire, Montgomeryshire, and Edinburgh fatal effects were produced, and at Jersey the storm appeared to traverse the island twice as a circumscribed cyclone before it took its departure for the French coast.

Equatorial winds almost exclusively prevailed, and in the evening of the 26th a gale of great force blew from s.w., some of the squalls of which were of impetuous violence.

Temperature was variable, and from the 2nd to the 7th daily above the average. On the 4th it was 9.9 deg. in excess. Then occurred suddenly a wave of great depression, and from the 19th to the 28th the temperature was consecutively below the average. Frosts covered the ground, snow fell among the hills of Scotland, and on the 24th the Fells in the neighbourhood of Lowgill, in Westmoreland, were coated four inches deep in snow.

The lowest night temperature was on the 22nd, when the thermometer sank to the freezing point of Fahrenheit. Ozone was well developed; and on ten days storm clouds covered the sky.

OCTOBER.

This month came in with a rough and squally wind, and on the 10th an equatorial gale raged which proved of destructive violence on the Northumberland coast. On the 18th, the barometer having fallen below 28:00 in., the wind chopped from pole to equator, and another gale blew in impetuous squalls for some hours. On the 26th a gusty wind brought up a ruck of heavy storm cloud, which passed over Sussex with vivid lightning and loud peals of thunder. On the 30th a heavy gale raged which continued through the night into the following morning. Winds were tropical on 23 days, and