34 Meteorology. •OOT = ?'BS'
Meteorology. 35 1895, which also occurred in the niontli of January. The readings on the last three days of January <strong>and</strong> the first three of February were also unusually high, ranging up to 30-800 in. The lowest reading of the year was 28-367 in. at 6 P.M. of the 3rd March. This gives the extensive range of 2-649 in. for the year. The mean annual pressure (reduced to 32 deg. <strong>and</strong> sea level) was 29-979 in., which is above the average of the last ten years by 0-073 in. Although the extreme range was wide, the weather on the whole was marked by the absence of severe storms, <strong>and</strong> for a considerable part of the year was more settled than usual. January, February, April, May, July, August, <strong>and</strong> November all had means exceeding 30 in., the highest being May with a mean of 30-291 in., <strong>and</strong> the next January with 30-262 in. March, Septem- ber, <strong>and</strong> December had the lowest means, <strong>and</strong> these were also the wettest months <strong>and</strong> the most marked by cyclonic disturbances although the cyclones were not on the whole so numerous or so severe as they often are ; <strong>and</strong> the mean force of the wind for the year was decidedly under average. Temperature (in shade, four feet above the grass). The absolute maximum, or highest single reading of the thermometer for 1896, was 84 deg. on the 14th June. The absolute minimum, or lowest reading was 20-8 on the 23rd January, showing an annual range of 63-2 deg. The next highest reading occurred on the 14th May, when 80-7 deg. was registered. And it is noteworthy that twice in May <strong>and</strong> three times in June the maximum of 80 deg. <strong>and</strong> upwards was reached, while in July <strong>and</strong> Auo-ust, which are often the warmest months, the maximum did not rise above 72 deg. in the former <strong>and</strong> 73 deg. in the latter, the explana- tion being that these months, <strong>and</strong> especially July, were largely characterised by deficiency of sunshine, <strong>and</strong> by cloudy <strong>and</strong> showery weather. The warmest month was June, with a mean of 60-2 deg., which is more than 2 deg. above the average of tlie last ten years. But January, Februai-y, March, April, May, <strong>and</strong> November all show an excess above the mean, rangino- from 2 to ^ deg., the greatest excess being in February <strong>and</strong> May, when it was considerably above 3 deg. The months in which a deficiency occurred were September <strong>and</strong> October, <strong>and</strong> especially the latter, which was short of the average by fully 21 deg. It will thus be observed that the first half of the year was the most favourable in point of temperature. There was an extraordmary period indeed, extending from the middle of April to the first week in