Weatherwise

Abstract

MR. JOHN H. WILLIS is a member of the band of amateur meteorologists who co-operate with the Meteorological Office hi maintaining local records of weather according to a fixed plan day by day and year by year. The climatology of Great Britain owes much to their efforts, which are purely voluntary. It will easily be realized that to carry out such a self-imposed duty successfully, a man must be an 'amateur' in the literal sense of the term. Observations must be made in all weathers; they must take priority over personal convenience, they must be made punctually and they must be meticulously recorded. So much is stated in the official pamphlet of 'requirements'. Here we may go further and say that the observer must have a real love of Nature, as expressed in the changes of weather. The daily reading of the instruments must not be merely a task to be done; it must be something which he loves to do, and which he approaches with a sense of adventure.

Weatherwise

England's Weather through the Past Thirty Years. By John H. Willis. Pp. 110 + 30 plates. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1944.) 7s. 6d. net.