The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Vol. XLIX: April-October 1850Various
Science
The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Vol. XLIX: April-October 1850
Various
Science -- Periodicals
FIRST QUARTER.--The temperature of the first quarter of 1849 is 2°·16
_above_ the average of twelve years, and the complement of the
dew-point is 1°·52 _below_ that of the corresponding quarter in the
unhealthy years 1847 and 1848.
The average fall of rain is 11·593 inches; in 1849, we have had 8·565,
or 3·02 inches _below_ the usual quantity.
The deaths in the quarter ending March 31, in the town and suburb of
Preston Quarter, are 168, being 16 _above_ the corrected quarterly
average, which is 152. In the corresponding quarters of 1848 and 1849,
the deaths were 250 and 187 respectively.
The deaths exceed the births by 25 in number.
_April._--A fine, dry, but cold month. The temperature 1°·95 below the
average. On the 23d the cuckoo was heard, and on the following day the
swallow was seen in this neighbourhood. On Good Friday, the 6th, two
parhelia, accompanied by a halo, were seen by a friend who was fishing
by the river Calder. The sky was covered with a thin cirro-stratus, so
that the images did not present any defined outline or disc, but
consisted of three circular patches of light of nearly equal
intensity, so much so, that it was difficult to distinguish the real
from the phantom suns. The phenomena were first noticed about 5 P.M.,
and they remained visible till near six. The ring or halo passed
through the centres of the parhelia, one of which was to the left, and
the other to the right of the sun, with which they formed a straight
line.
_May._--A fine month, with an average mean temperature. The sun shone
out on 29 days. The depth of rain is about an inch _above_ the average
quantity.
_June._--A very dry month, and by far the coldest June I have recorded
in the last seventeen years. The mean temperature is no less than
3°·67 below the average. The hay harvest began in this neighbourhood
about the 20th.
The thermometer on the grass, on raw wool, was below the freezing
point on eight nights; on the nights of the 8th and 10th it fell to
27°·5, and on that of the 19th and 20th, to 25°. On several mornings
ice was seen in the immediate vicinity of the town, and on the 3d of
the month there was a somewhat heavy fall of snow amongst the
mountains. Highbell, Kentmere, High Street, and the mountains around
Mardale, were covered with the mantle of winter to the depth of 6
inches. Such an incident has not occurred, it is said, since 1827,
when several sheep were lost and smothered in snow-drifts on Mosedale
and Helvellyn; and Skiddaw was covered with snow. Both snow and hail
are recorded on the 10th in the register kept for me at Bassenthwaite
Halls, at the foot of Skiddaw.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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