LOOKING BACK ON I+ By R. E. BOOTH

URING 1g60 the weather in the south of the British Isles was very different D from that in the north, particularly as regards rainfall. In England and Wales, after the wettest winter since that of 1915-16, the spring and early summer were generally warm and dry, but the second half of the year was mainly dull and exceptionally wet, the period July to November being the wettest in a series of records and estimates going back to 1727. In Scotland, however, rainfall was above average in April and below in July, September and October.

THE BRITISH ISLES

January, February and March The New Year came in with midnight temperature above 50°F over most of

England and Wales. January was generally cloudy and wet over much of the country but changeable and comparatively dry and sunny in north and west Scotland. Ground was snow-covered in many places, except in the south-west, for about a week during the middle of the month and snow lay 6-12 inches deep in parts of south-east England. February was a month of extreme temperatures with some heavy snowfalls. On the 18th temperature fell to minus 8°F at Grantown-on-Spey, Moray, but the last three days of February were exception- ally mild with afternoon temperature rising to 65°F in parts of Wales. March was unusually dull with sunshine over England and Wales only 60 per cent of the average. It was rather cold in the east of the country owing to the pre- valence of easterly winds and rainfall was a little more than the average in southern England but less than half the average in north Scotland.

APril, May and June The first two weeks of April were changeable and rather wet but there was

little rain during the second half of the month which was warm and sunny gener- ally with afternoon temperatures often rising above 60°F. May was warm and mainly dry with long sunny periods especially in the north. Rainfall was only about half the average in north and east Scotland and there has been no warmer May in Scotland since the beginning of the century. The warm, mainly dry weather continued throughout June with temperature frequently rising into the eighties even in Scotland. However, there were some thunderstorms, some of them being severe, particularly in southern England and the Midlands on the 22nd and 23rd.

Jdy, August and S@tember July began a sequence of five exceptionally wet months in England and

Wales, but in Scotland weather remained generally dry and in parts of Inverness-

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shire rainfall was only half the average. Teniperatiire rarely exceeded 70°F even in southern England. The cool, unusually wet weather continaed throughout August. From 9th to 11th heavy rain fell with little break along parts of the south coast; Brighton recorded more than twice its average rainfall for the whole month during these three days. September was cool and unusually wet in central and southern England, but in Scotland the month was quite sunny with temperature about average and little rain. Four days of exception- ally heavy rain in southern England at the end of the month led to disastrous floods in the Exeter area. Some places had over 5 in. of rain in the period ~7th-30th.

October, November and December During October more than three times the average rninfall was recorded in

parts of south and east England, but there was little more than half the average in north and west Scotland. The sequence of very wet days which occurred at the end of September continued until 8 October caasing very serious and widespread floods. In the Exeter area alone over 2,000 houses were damaged by flood-water, some beyond repair, while some were almost completely demolished. There has only been one wetter October in England and Wales, that of 1903, in estimates going back nearly two and a half centuries. Rainfall was above average again in November over most parts of the country except the north of Scotland. Floods occurred in many parts of England and Wales, but not on such a serious scale as during October. Daytime temperatures generally were above the average for the first time since Jane and few frosts were more than slight. December was a changeable and rather cold month particularly in Northern Ireland where average daily maximum temperatures were about 3°F lower than the normal. Rainfall was very variable; it was below average in the Exeter area but above in the Midlands and east and south-east England, being twice the akerage in the Yarmouth w.

WORLD CONDITIONS

January, February and March January temperature was below average over northern Russia, Siberia and

much of China but above average over a large part of eastern Canada, the north- east U S A . and Australia. Snow occurred in many parts of Spain on the 12th and there were heavy falls of snow, and in central Europe continuous frost, for several days about the middle of the month. During a heat wave in central and southern Australia some places recorded temperatures in excess of 100°F for six consecutive days. A serious drought developed in many parts of South Africa in the second half of January.

Mean temperatures were aboat average over most of Europe during Febra- ary, but over Greenland and Scandinavia it was colder than usual, and over northern Siberia, much colder. The whole of Canada and the extreme north- eastern states of U.S.A. were warmer than usual. Blizzards and heavy snow affected many western and central states, especially during the second week.

Heavy rain preceded extensive floods in Western Australia towards mid-month and in Queensland towards the end. The worst cyclone of the century killed many people iri Mauritius on the 29th and caused such exteasive damage as seriously to affect the economy of the island.

Daring March the greater part of Europe west of 15"E and the extreme of north-east of Asia were warmer than usual, but temperature WEIS below average over most of Siberia, central Russia and the greater part of north America east of the Rockies. Snow was heavy and frequent in many parts of the U.S.A.; in New York and southern Pennsylvanin level snow was over 2 f t deep in places and in Kentucky 8 in. of snow fell in 6 hr. Brazil suffered extensive floods following exceptionally heavy rain.

April, May and June April temperatures were higher than average over most of Earope, parti-

cularly in the north, and over the U.S.A., but over much of the Arctic, except the Spitsbergen area and north-east Canada, they were lower. Widespread snow- storms and freezing rain over a wide area of central U.S.A. were followed by torrential rain and extensive floods during the spring thaw later in the month. Snow fell in many parts of southern Europe during the latter part of the month. Severe floods occurred in Tasmania during very cold weather while Victoria had early snow on the 23rd.

Mean temperatares during May were above average over Scandinavia, Europe west of IO'E, eastern Canada and over Alaska; they were below average over the rest of Europe, Siberia and the eastern states of the USA. Late frosts caused serious damage to vineyards in France but temperatures were unusually high in many parts of western Europe during the last few days of the month; I O O O F was reached in Seville. In south-east Asia torrential rain led to damaging floods; 12 in. of rain fell in the Northern Territories of Hong Kong in 12 hours.

During Jme mean temperatures over much of Europe, northern Canada and the south-west states of the U.S.A. were below the average but they were above the average from the central Mediterranean to the Caspian Sea and nor- thern India. Early in the month a typhoon from the South China Sea caused considerable damage and loss of life in Hong Kong, and on the last day of the month the Philippines suffered in a similar manner.

July, August and September Mean July temperatures were near or below average over the greater part

of Europe, except European Russia, and over much of Asia, eastern Canada and the central states of the U.S.A. They were above average over the remainder of North America. It was a wet month with above average rainfall over most of Europe and North America; in Poland torrential rain led to extensive ar;d damaging floods along the River Vistula.

August was cooler than usual in most parts of Europe, except Scandinavia, and over Siberia, India, eastern Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, but warmer than

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usual over parts of Canada and most of the U S A . It was wet and changeable over much of central Europe. Paris had its coolest and wettest August on record, rainfall being nearly twice the average. In central and southern Italy on the other hand weather was fine and hot with temperature a t times exceeding IOOOF. Two villages in the state of Orissa, eastern India, were completely washed away by g days of heavy rain, while 23 in. of rain is said to have fallen in 3 hr during a typhoon which struck Formosa.

Over most of Europe, except Scandinavia, and in the regions of Alaska, Quebec and the Gulf of Mexico, mean September temperatures were below average, they were about average over Asia, except in the extreme north of Siberia, and slightly above average over most of North America. Early falls of snow occurred down to 5,ooc ft in the Swiss Alps and heavy and prolonged rain about the middle of the month caused extensive floods in Switzerland and northern and central Italy.

There were violent thunderstorms in Switzerland.

October, November and December Mean temperatures during October were above average over most of Europe

but below average over Scandinavia, western Russia, Siberia and over most of the Arctic except in the region of Greenland and eastern Canada. The Balkans, north Africa and much of North America also had above average temperatures. Torrential rain in south-east France caused serious flooding in the R h h e Valley early in the month and later large areas of central and south-west France were also affected. Floods and snow affected much of northern Italy and all Alpine passes a t one time were blocked by more than 2 ft of snow. In east Pakistan two cyclones, one about the middle and the other towards the end of the month, caused tidal waves in the Ganges basin ; more than 10,000 people are reported to have been drowned in the resulting catastrophic floods.

Nearly all Europe, eastern Canada and the north-east states of the U.S.A. experienced a warmer November than usual, but it was colder than usual over most of Asia and the western part of Canada and the U S A . Heavy rain led to extensive flooding of the Po valley in northern Italy at the beginning of the month, and there was also considerable flood damage to factories in western France. The first severe snowstorm of the winter swept across North America at the end of the month; snow accumulated to a depth of a foot and more in many parts of the Great Plains and the Mississippi Valley.

Temperature was near average over much of Europe during December but below average in North America. Stormy weather with considerable rain affected most of Europe at the beginning of the month and many villages in northern France were flooded. A severe blizzard paralysed traffic in Denmark, on the IIth, in deep snow drifts. About the middle of the month severe and widespread storms, accompanied by heavy falls of snow and near zero tempera- tures, swept the eastern states of the U.S.A. and Canada.