Types and spells of weather around the year in the British Isles : Annual trends, seasonal structure of the year, singularities

Since the foundation of the Scottish Meteorological Society in 1856, a mass of information regarding the climate of Edinburgh has been reduced and published in the Society's Journal from time to time, the data being furnished to that body by its local observers. In addition, numerous unreduced manuscript books of meteorological observations which extend back to the year 1764 are further available for discussion. In 1861 the late Principal Forbes communicated to this Society a paper on the “Climate of Edinburgh,” two elements of climate being alone discussed, viz., temperature and rainfall, and for a period of but forty years. The reduction of the observations taken virtually without a break during the past 132 years was therefore desirable for the discussion of cyclical and other weather changes, for which records covering a long period are absolutely necessary. Through the kindness of the Councils of the Scottish Meteorological Society, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Royal Meteorological Society, the loan of the manuscript registers kept in Edinburgh and its immediate vicinity was obtained.