The Weather and Sunspots

Abstract

IN NATURE (vol. xxvii. p. 551) Mr. Williams ascribes the great cold of March, 1883, at the Riviera, to the absence of sunspots. There is the less reason for ascribing this cold to sunspots, as till now much more evidence goes the other way. And may it not be contended that this evidence is in favour of warm weather, with minimum sunspots in the tropics or in summer alone. The months of November to March, 1877–78, especially February and March, were so warm over an extensive area, especially in the interior of North America and Western Siberia, that the mean temperatures were nearly without precedent, while in no extensive country of the world the temperature was much below the average.