Page:VCH Worcestershire 1.djvu/117

 CLIMATE It is unfortunate that the Worcester temperature was taken at a different hour from those of Malvern and Birmingham, so as to make any comparison quite impossible and useless, but it will be seen that Malvern is warmer than Birmingham, It seems hardly worth giving the other temperatures for all three places, but the figures for Malvern and Birmingham will enable a good idea to be formed of the temperature of the two sides of the county. The mean monthly maximum temperature at Malvern and Birming- ham is as follows — Malvern Birmingham Malvern Birmingham January. 42-4 58-0 July. . 7I-I 84-6 February. 43-8 6i"9 August . . 69-9 85-6 March . 49-0 64-8 September . 65-8 82-8 April . . 54-0 79-0 October . 54-9 70-0 May . . 6i-3 77-6 November . 49-0 6i-6 June . 67-6 82-8 December . 44-3 56-0 The minimum temperature at Worcester and Birmingham is as follows — Worcester Birmingham Worcester Birmingham January . February . March . April . . May . . June . . II-O 8-03 i6-o 20-0 21-0 38-0 10-8 8-0 21-3 27-0 31-0 38-3 July . . August . . September . October . November . December . 35-0 41-0 27-0 22-0 i6-o 7-0 39-5 41-2 33-0 27-9 23-5 14-5 So far as is known there are no observations as to the earth tem- perature in Worcestershire, but some observations on the temperature of the river Severn have been taken which give the monthly mean temperature of that river near Worcester at 9 a.m. — fanuary . 36-0 May . . . 50-0 September 58-0 February . . 37-0 June . 57-0 October . . 51-3 March . . 39-0 July. . . 6o-o November 437 April. . . 45-0 August. 6o-o December. 40-2 It will be observed that the temperature, as would be expected, is slightly lower than that of the air. When the tideway is reached the temperature falls considerably, and is subjected to much greater fluctua- tion. But there is no doubt that the comparatively high temperature the above figures show is due to two causes, both of which are to some extent exceptional : (i) the dry weather reducing considerably the volume of water, causes, especially in the summer months, the tempera- ture to rise ; and (2) the absence of freshets also tends to keep up the temperature, as the large mass of cold water caused the river to be at 79