Some Temperature Anomalies

Abstract

I HAVE often noticed the anomalies of temperature to which Mr. Harries directs attention in NATURE of January 9, and have sometimes been inclined to ascribe the high temperature in the east to air that has come from Spain and Africa instead of from the Atlantic, as in the west. But as the result of observations of temperature in the upper air I have latterly thought that Mr. Harries's suggestion is correct, and that the high temperature is due to a descending current. So far as my recollection goes, the phenomenon occurs when an anticyclone is situated over France or the south-east of England, and not in cyclonic conditions such as have prevailed during the past week.