4776821The Weather of May, 1878 — Midland Naturalist, Volume 1 (1878) pp. 196-198William Jerome Harrison
Meteorology of the Midlands.
The Weather of May, 1875.
By, W. J. Harrison, F.G.S.
The first few days of May were tolerably fine and clear, but on the 7th rain began to fall, and continued daily until the 29th, thus giving twenty-three consecutive days of rain! As one observer succinctly puts it, this downpour "spoilt the promise of April; damaged the crops, and put everybody out of temper."
Erratum—In remarks for April, read Swallow for Cuckoo at Kibworth on April 11th, Cuckoo did not appear there till May 2nd; very late.
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There is no doubt that the month was one of the wettest, if not the wettest May on record in the Midland Counties, Observations going back more than forty years show nothing to surpass it, although an approach is made by the May of 1869, which, we may hopefully note, was followed by a very dry summer. At every Midland station, however, the rainfall of May, 1878, may be taken as from two to three times the average amount for that month. At many points on the west and south-west, the 10th was the day of maximum fall, but in the centre and east most fell on the 7th and 8th. Owing to the superabundance of moisture, the foliage and grass are unusually forward, luxuriant, and green; but wheat begins to suffer, garden seeds lave decayed in the ground, and slogs and grubs are very abundant. Bees, however, have had a bad time of it. The barometer has been low and fluctuating; temperature equable, with hardly any frost, but little sunshine and south-westerly winds. Thunderstorms have been frequent, those on the 1st, 13th, 17th, 18th, and 27th may be specially noted. The Swift was seen at Tamworth on the 4th, Kibworth on the 5th, and Castle Ashby on the 15th. Corncrake heard at Burton on 1st, and Castle Ashby on 4th; also, at last place, White-throat on same day. Horse-chestnut flowered at Stroud on 5th, at Burton on 3rd; Hawthorn and Laburnum came out about the 7th, but the show of each has been brief and poor.
This work was published before January 1, 1930, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
