On the 18th, primroses were in flower on the cliffs between Panton and Harrington.
March.—Similar to February. Temperature 2°·29 above the average, and the complement of the dew-point 2°·40 below the mean of the two preceding years.
First Quarter.—The temperature of the first quarter of 1849 is 2°·16 above the average of twelve years, and the complement of the dew-point is 1°·52 below that of the corresponding quarter in the unhealthy years 1847 and 1848.
The average fall of rain is 11·593 inches; in 1849, we have had 8·565, or 3·02 inches below the usual quantity.
The deaths in the quarter ending March 31, in the town and suburb of Preston Quarter, are 168, being 16 above the corrected quarterly average, which is 152. In the corresponding quarters of 1848 and 1849, the deaths were 250 and 187 respectively.
The deaths exceed the births by 25 in number.
April.—A fine, dry, but cold month. The temperature 1°·95 below the average. On the 23d the cuckoo was heard, and on the following day the swallow was seen in this neighbourhood. On Good Friday, the 6th, two parhelia, accompanied by a halo, were seen by a friend who was fishing by the river Calder. The sky was covered with a thin cirro-stratus, so that the images did not present any defined outline or disc, but consisted of three circular patches of light of nearly equal intensity, so much so, that it was difficult to distinguish the real from the phantom suns. The phenomena were first noticed about 5 P.M., and they remained visible till near six. The ring or halo passed through the centres of the parhelia, one of which was to the left, and the other to the right of the sun, with which they formed a straight line.
May.—A fine month, with an average mean temperature. The sun shone out on 29 days. The depth of rain is about an inch above the average quantity.
June.—A very dry month, and by far the coldest June I have recorded in the last seventeen years. The mean temperature is no less than 3°·67 below the average. The hay harvest began in this neighbourhood about the 20th.
The thermometer on the grass, on raw wool, was below the freezing point on eight nights; on the nights of the 8th and 10th it fell to 27°·5, and on that of the 19th and 20th, to 25°. On several mornings ice was seen in the immediate vicinity of the town, and on the 3d of the month there was a somewhat heavy fall of snow amongst the mountains. Highbell, Kentmere, High Street, and the mountains around Mardale, were covered with the mantle of winter to the depth of 6 inches. Such an incident has not occurred, it is said, since 1827, when several sheep were lost and smothered in snow-drifts on Mosedale and Helvellyn; and Skiddaw was covered with snow. Both snow and hail are recorded on the 10th in the register kept for me at Bassenthwaite Halls, at the foot of Skiddaw.