_Winds._--The average barometric pressure over England is about 29.94 in., and normally diminishes from south-west to north-east at all seasons, the mean pressure on the south coast being 29.97 and that on the northern border 29.88. The pressure at any given latitude is normally highest in the centre of the country and on the east coast, and lowest on the west coast. The direction of the mean annual isobars shows that the normal wind in all parts of England and Wales must be from the south-west on the west coast, curving gradually until in the centre of the country, and on the east coast it is westerly, without a southerly component. The normal seasonal march of pressure-change produces a maximum gradient in December and January, and a minimum gradient in April; but for every month in the year the mean gradient is for winds from southerly and westerly quarters. In April the gradient is so slight that any temporary fall of pressure to the south of England or any temporary rise of pressure to the north, which would suffice in other months merely to reduce the velocity of the south-westerly wind, is sufficient in that month to reverse the gradient and produce an east wind over the whole country. The liability to east wind in spring is one of the most marked features of the English climate, the effect being naturally most felt on the east coast. The southerly component in the wind is as a rule most marked in the winter months, the westerly component predominating in summer. The west end of a town receives the wind as it blows in fresh from the country at all seasons, and consequently the west end of an English town is with few exceptions the residential quarter, while smoke-producing industries are usually relegated to the east end. _Storms._--On account of the great frequency of cyclonic disturbances passing in from the Atlantic, the average conditions of wind over the British Islands give no idea of the frequency of change in direction and force. The chief paths of depressions are from south-west to north-east across England; one track runs across the south-east and eastern counties, and is that followed by a large proportion of the summer and autumn storms, thereby perhaps helping to explain the peculiar liability of the east of England to damage from hail accompanying thunderstorms. A second track crosses central England, entering by the Severn estuary and leaving by the Humber or the Wash; while a third crosses the north of England from the neighbourhood of Morecambe Bay to the Tyne. While these are tracks frequently followed by the centres of barometric depressions, individual cyclones may and do cross the country in all directions, though very rarely indeed from east to west or from north to south.