Midland Naturalist/Volume 01/The Weather of April, 1878

by William Jerome Harrison

Meteorology of the Midlands.

 

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The Weather of April, 1878.

 

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By W. J. Harrison, F.G.S.

 

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The weather of April last has elicited encomiums from nearly all our observers. The first ten or eleven days were cold and frosty, the night of the 1st being the minimum at nearly all stations. This frost cut off the apricots, early plums, and gooseberries, After the 10th a warm and genial period set in, which continued to the end of the month.Easterly winds prevailed, but the barometer was by no means high. Thunderstorms occurred on the 5th, 17th, 25th, and 30th. Rainfall again below the average, the only stations where maximum fall exceeded one inch being Whitfield (1-25in.) and West Malvern (1-24in.,} both on the 10th, which day produced the extreme fall at several stations in the west and in the south of England generally. In London on the 11th from 2 to 2¾ inches fell in twenty-four Lours, with a light easterly wind, but this was quite local. In the midlands generally the 20th gave the maximum fall, though this was not of very large amount. This was a very unsettled day, and marked by a change of wind from south-west to east.

As to vegetation all things look promising. The oak and elm are both leafing before the ash, giving promise {according to the proverb) of a fine summer. The apple, pear, strawberry, and the plum are making a wonderful show of blossom, and in the hedges the blackthorn has made a good show.

We have received many interesting accounts of the arrival of our migratory birds, and, as the cuckoo and swallow are recorded by numerous observers, their respective times of arrival may be shown in a tabular form:—

The Nightingale is also recorded from Sedgebrooke and Castle Ashby on the 23rd, and Kibworth on the 18th. At Oscott three sea-gulls were noticed flying from the N.E. at 2 45 p.m., on the 24th. A fine lunar halo was seen on the 12th.

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