Months.

Thermometer.

Rain.

Low. Mean. Inches.

75

52 27 40.8

32 48.4

32

47.0

40

54.0

J

Annual Mean

General Remarks on the Weather, as observed at Carlisle during the year 1821. ANUARY-The weather during this month, was, on the whole, very pleasant for the season: the first five days were severe frost; on the 4th, the thermometer was as low as 12o; it afterwards was dry, with intervals of moderate frost, till about the middle of the month. The whole of the remainder was remarkably mild, when the diurnal average of the thermometer was at times above 50o.

February. The three first days were mild and showery, and rather stormy; the remainder was very dry and calm, with moderate frost in the nights; the average of the barometer 30-247 this month, is the highest since April, 1817. March. Was in general very wet and gloomy, and the temperature remarkably uniform; the average of the barometer 29.56 is near 7-tenths of an inch lower than that of the preceding month. During the whole of the win ter months the ground in this district has never been quite covered with snow, some trifling showers which fell were speedily dissolved.

April.-The weather continued cold, wet, and ungenial till the 20th; during this time the surrounding mountains were generally covered with snow; the remaining eleven days were extremely sultry, with much vivid lightning, and very loud peals of thunder, particularly on the 25th, when it was accompanied with torrents of rain; on the 26th the thermometer was as high as 71o.

May. The average temperature of this month, 47°, is extremely low for the season; very little rain fell, the small quantity in the table, 1.26, is chiefly dissolved hail and snow-ice of considerable thickness was at times observed in the mornings; loud thunder and vivid lightning frequently occurred, accompanied with very heavy showers of large hail, particularly during the latter half of the month, when the mountains were often covered with

snow,

June. Was a succession of most unseasonable cold weather, the trifling rain which fell in the former part of the month, was generally mixed with hail, when snow was observed on some of the mountains; on the 9th, we had some thunder, after which the weather was extremely droughty, with invariable parching easterly winds; the nights were generally inclined to frost, when white rime was frequently seen in the mornings.

July.-The weather continued cold, and extremely droughty till the 20th, when the earth in many places was most dreadfully parched, and the crops very materially injured; the rivers here were never known to be so low, and many springs in this district were quite dry; the remaining twelve days were showery, but rather cold for the

sively hot, on the 24th, the thermometer was as high as 780, and the average 69o. In the beginning of the month, thunder was frequently heard at a distance, accompanied with vivid lightning.

September.-The weather was on the whole very wet, and extremely moist and sultry; we seldom experienced more unfavourable weather than the present for securing the harvest; the rain was seldom heavy, but generally light and drizzling, and the weather almost uniformly sultry, moist, and gloomy.

October.-Was unseasonably mild, and remarkably wet and unpleasant, the quantity of rain, 4.67 inches, is nearly double our monthly average; in the nights, on the 20th, 21st, and 22nd, we had much lightning, with thunder and heavy showers of large hail.

November.-Was a succession of the same unseasonable, mild, and extremely wet weather, which was experienced during the preceding month. On the morning of the 4th, ice was observed on the ponds in this neighbourhood, which soon disappeared; at this time much snow was observed on the surrounding mountains, and the weather, excepting this instance, was uniformly mild, the thermometer being seldom below 40°, but frequently 500, and upwards; the quantity of rain, 4·7 inches, exceeds that of the preceding month; the rivers often overflowed their banks; some violent hurricanes occurred, particularly in the latter part

of the month; in the evening of the 26th, an aurora borealis was observed here, the sky being rather hazy at the time, therefore not brilliant or interesting.

December. This month, like the two last, was unseasonably mild, and extremely wet, and stormy; we were frequently visited with dreadful hurricanes, accompanied with torrents of rain, but the most remarkable meteorological occurrence, in this season of the year, was a tremendous thunderstorm. On the 18th, in the former part of the day, much lightning was observed, with distant thunder; in the afternoon it increased to a most violent storm, and appeared to pass direct over this city; the peals of thunder were dreadfully loud and appalling, the lightning which was of an azure colour, was extremely dense and vivid, and was accompanied with torrents of hail and rain. The fall of rain, &c. these three last months, amounts to 14 inches, and of six former months, viz., Jan., Feb., and the four summer months, only 8 inches; some trifling hoar-frost occurred in the mornings, which were often succeeded by storms of wind and rain ; snow was frequently observed on the surrounding mountains. The very high average of the thermometer 42·1, is probably unprecedented in the same month in this climate. The average of the barometer, 29-32 inches, was never so low during the period of this re gister. W. PITT.

Carlisle, 2nd Jan. 1822.