Notes

Abstract

A SPELL of exceptionally brilliant and hot weather for so late in the year occurred over the whole of the British Islands during the last three days of September and the first four days of October, and in nearly all parts of the country previous records fail to show any shade temperatures as high for the corresponding period. At Greenwich the maximum readings exceeded 70° each day, and on the six days from September 29 to October 4 it was 75° or above, the absolutely highest temperature being 79°.9, on September 30. An examination of the Greenwich records from 1841 shows a temperature of 79°-2, on October 4, 1886, but there is no other reading higher than 78° so late in the season. At Nottingham 78° occurred on October 3, whilst the previous highest temperature during the month in the last thirty-five years is 75°, in 1895. At Bath 77° was registered on October i and 2, and the highest previous record for the month is 73°, in 1873. At Shields the reading was 77° on October 3, and the previous highest reading in October is 69°, in 1898. All previous records were also broken by 77° at Aberdeen, 76° at Jersey, Nairn, and Valencia, 75° at Holyhead, and 73° at Leith, between October 1 and 4. A feature of especial interest during the hot spell was the exceptionally warm nights, the thermometer commonly not falling below 60°. The Weekly Weather Summary for the period ending October 3, issued by the Meteorological Office, shows that the mean temperature was more than 11° in excess of the average in the north-east and north-west of England and in the Midland counties, whilst the sheltered thermometer registered 80° in all these districts. Much fog or mist occurred at night, and the air throughout the hot spell was exceedingly humid, the ground remaining damp all day where screened from the sun's rays. The primary cause of the hot weather was a quiet drift of southerly air from off the heated land in Spain and France, due to the prevalence of a region of high barometer readings over Germany. At Rochefort and Biarritz the sheltered thermometer registered 86° on October 2.