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Information as to the incidence of infectious disease will be found
in the Section of the Report relating to that subject. The Death Rate
calculated for each Ward is shown on page 16; and the Ward Birth
Rates and Infant Death Rates are set out on page 4.
Meteorology.
Through the kindness of E. L. Hawke, Esq., M.A., F.R.A.S.,
Secretary of the Royal Meteorological Society, and Hon. Meteorologist
to the Hampstead Scientific Society, I am able to submit his most
valuable and interesting report on the weather of the year 1938 in
Hampstead, based on records kept at the Hampstead Scientific Society's
Observatory, established in 1909, on the summit of the Heath, near the
Whitestone Pond.
"An abnormal year; severe droughts and torrential rains; exceptionally
mild periods." These words headed the official summary of
the weather during 1938 issued by the Air Ministry, and they are no
less applicable to the London area than to the British Isles as a whole,
for which they were intended. The outstanding features of the year
in Hampstead were the extraordinary warmth and brightness of
March, the drought of the late winter and spring months, the unparalleled
mildness of November, and the heavy rainfall during the
last quarter.
March gave a mean temperature of 48.1 deg., a figure exceeding
the normal by 62 deg., the previous highest for that month in the
Observatory records by 2 deg., and the ordinary level for April by 22
deg. Statistics from other parts of the London district indicate that
no March between 1764 and 1937 was so warm.
From February 1st to April 30th Hampstead's total rainfall was
1.06 in., representing 18 per cent. of the average allowance. As this