Extract of a Register of the Barometer, Thermometer, and Rain, at Lyndon, in Rutland, 1782. By Thomas Barker, Esquire

XVI. Extract of a Register of the Barometer, Thermometer, and Rain, at Lyndon, in Rutland, 1782. By Thomas Barker, Esquire. Read March 13, 1783. | | Barometer. | Thermometer. | Rain. | |-------|------------|--------------|-------| | | Highest | Lowest | Mean | Highest | Lowest | Mean | Highest | Lowest | Mean | Lyndon | Selbourn, Hamp. | South Lamb., Surry. | | Jan. | Morn. | 30.00 | 28.45 | 29.27 | 49 | 37 | 42\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 49 | 21\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 37\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 2,333 | 4,64 | 2,23 | | | Aftern. | | | | 50 | 38 | 43 | 52 | 30\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 41\(\frac{1}{2}\) | | | | | Feb. | Morn. | 29.99 | 28.72 | 29.50 | 48 | 33 | 37\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 48 | 23 | 32 | 38 | 0,636 | 1,98 | 0,56 | | | Aftern. | | | | 49 | 34 | 38\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 53 | 30\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 38 | | | | | Mar. | Morn. | 29.78 | 28.57 | 29.24 | 47 | 37 | 41 | 47\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 23\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 34 | 1,923 | 6,54 | 2,49 | | | Aftern. | | | | 49 | 38 | 42 | 54 | 37 | 44 | | | | | Apr. | Morn. | 29.69 | 28.09 | 29.20 | 49\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 41 | 44 | 45 | 39\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 38 | 6,125 | 4,57 | 2,14 | | | Aftern. | | | | 50 | 42 | 45 | 55 | 38\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 46 | | | | | May | Morn. | 29.62 | 28.54 | 29.24 | 58 | 42 | 49 | 58 | 33 | 44\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 5,722 | 6,34 | 4,10 | | | Aftern. | | | | 60 | 43 | 51 | 73\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 42 | 55 | | | | | June | Morn. | 30.05 | 29.06 | 29.60 | 68\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 50 | 60 | 67\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 44 | 55 | 1,295 | 1,75 | 0,49 | | | Aftern. | | | | 71 | 52 | 61\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 82 | 52 | 66 | | | | | July | Morn. | 29.82 | 29.10 | 29.51 | 68 | 57\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 61\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 62 | 50\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 56 | 2,697 | 7,09 | 6,88 | | | Aftern. | | | | 69 | 59 | 62\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 75 | 55 | 66\(\frac{1}{2}\) | | | | | Aug. | Morn. | 29.64 | 28.60 | 29.21 | 62 | 55 | 59 | 57\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 46 | 52\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 3,114 | 8,28 | | | | Aftern. | | | | 63 | 56\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 60 | 70\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 55 | 63\(\frac{1}{2}\) | | | | | Sept. | Morn. | 29.89 | 28.73 | 29.47 | 62\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 52 | 58 | 58 | 4\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 51 | 5,151 | 3,72 | 7,80 | | | Aftern. | | | | 64 | 53\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 59\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 67\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 50\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 61\(\frac{1}{2}\) | | | | | Oct. | Morn. | 29.86 | 28.80 | 29.40 | 52\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 44\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 48\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 52 | 30 | 41 | 1,502 | 1,93 | | | | Aftern. | | | | 54 | 45 | 49\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 59\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 42\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 50 | | | | | Nov. | Morn. | 30.10 | 28.51 | 29.40 | 45 | 34\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 39\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 42\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 23 | 32 | 1,074 | 2,51 | 1,24 | | | Aftern. | | | | 45 | 35 | 40 | 49 | 33 | 38\(\frac{1}{2}\) | | | | | Dec. | Morn. | 30.02 | 28.95 | 29.57 | 44\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 34\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 39 | 43\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 25 | 34 | 0,517 | 0,91 | 0,72 | | | Aftern. | | | | 44\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 34\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 39 | 48\(\frac{1}{2}\) | 30 | 38 | | | | The The beginning of January was chiefly mild, and some thunder; but as the year advanced it grew more frosty, intermixed with storms and rain, and was a severe latter end of the winter; not long nor settled frosts, but frequent, especially in March, which was almost all either frost and snow, or storms and wet, and was followed by so wet, cold, and backward a season for two months as none remembered. Near twelve inches of rain in April and May, and every thing was six weeks or two months later than usual, and the north and east winds were wet, a sure sign of a wet season; and sometimes there came great rains from the east for two or three days together, and vast floods. The wall fruit was not only blasted in the blossom, but most of what seemed set fell off afterward, and the leaves and shoots were so much killed, that the trees looked almost dead. The barley seed-time was very bad; a great deal could hardly be sowed at all, or so late it was never well ripened. It appears to have been a very bad season in other parts of Europe also. More frost, and greater snows and rains than usual, in the latter part of winter and spring, even in the southern parts. In May and June there was an almost universal cold or other illness all over Europe, but few entirely escaped it; to many it was but slight, yet in some places it was mortal. June was the best month this summer, the showers being then fewer and smaller; yet there was never any long continuance of fine weather, but it was soon interrupted either by general wet fits, or by violent and great partial rains and thunder, in particular places, while it was fair elsewhere. In so wet a season hay was, as it might be expected, plentiful, but a great deal of it ill got, and vast quantities of grass the latter part of the summer. The harvest was very late and tedious. The last week in August, which was the beginning of harvest, was pretty well, and the beginning of September very fine, only the mornings were misty. In this time a good deal of the white corn was well got; but a great part of the barley was not then ripe, and the rest of the harvest, which in some places was not finished till after October 20, was so wet, it was well it could be got in at all tolerably; yet from the coolness of the season, and the unripeness of the barley, very little of it grew in this country or most others. The wheat was but a small crop; the barley almost universally bad. The best crop was that of beans; but hardly anything was well ripened, and all sorts very dear, wheat three pounds a quarter, barley two pounds, oats one pound. The three former years were pleasant and fine, chiefly dry, and often hot, but by no means healthy. This, which seemed a very bad one for cold and wet, yet appears to have been more wholesome. The latter part of the summer and the autumn, there has been much less illness about the country than for several years past. A fortnight in the middle of October was tolerably fair for finishing the harvest; then some storms and rains. The end of October and beginning of November concluded the eight months wet season, for the remainder of the year was dry. Almost all November was much inclined to frost, and sometimes severe, so as to threaten a hard winter. There was a smart frost the latter end of the month, which continued, though with some breaks, above three weeks in November and December before it was quite gone; after which the last fortnight in the year was in general fine, calm, and mild: the ground ground got quite dry in many places, and the wheat, which has lain a great while in the ground, comes up well at last. An account of an uncommon circle seen about the Moon. November 17, 1782, between ten and eleven at night, there was a remarkable corona about the moon, such as I do not remember to have taken notice of before, at least not to that degree. It is common, when the moon appears through a thin cloud, to see a bright place round it, bounded by a yellowish red circle at a little distance, which seems to me to be not always of the same diameter. At this time the clear part of the sky was very clear; but there were many thin clouds, and as they passed over the moon from the north, that usual circle appeared much stronger than common, and I should think of less diameter: but the remarkable part was, that round that circle, another rainbow-coloured one was seen; the blue, I think, was on the outside, and the red terminated with the usual red circle. The colours were far more distinct and bright than any halo, and not a third part of that diameter. It was brighter or fainter, according as different parts of the clouds past over the moon; and when the clear sky came over it, the corona very nearly, if not wholly, disappeared. I have since seen some small resemblance of the same thing, but so faint I should hardly have taken notice of it, if I had not seen it so much stronger at that time. END OF PART I. OF VOL. LXXIII.