View report page

6
METEOROLOGY.

METEOROLOGY.
The customary table of records (Table 3) is based, as in former years, on observations taken
at the Royal Botanical Society's Gardens, the results of which are published during the first
week of January of each year in The Times. To the table taken from that source has been
added the summaries for the preceding five years to afford basis for comparison. Comparisons
should, however, be made with averages for a period of not less than thirty-five or,
preferably, fifty years.
It is probably no exaggeration to write that the reputation of a year is made, or marred, by
the weather of the summer holiday season. If that be granted, last year may well be summed
up as "cold, wet and miserable"—a complete contrast to the preceding year, which was
described as "almost tropical." An examination of Table 3, however, shows that the year as
a whole did not differ very notably from any of the preceding five years. The mean (9 a.m.)
temperature (50.5°) was the second highest observed during the six years, being exceeded only
by that of 1911 (51.5°), and the same remark applies to the maximum (shade and sun)
temperatures. The total rainfall (27.76 in.) is the highest in the list, and the total amount of
bright sunshine (1,242 hrs.), the lowest. On the other hand, the comparison of the principal
elements for the three summer months June-August indicates very markedly the differences
between the two seasons, and explains how the year earned its bad reputation. (See below.)