14 DECEMBER 1945, Page 14

The Warm Spell It will have been noticed that this

year, as in 1943, Buchan's warm spell (which should have been given as beginning on December 3rd) was particularly cold and frosty. However, no reports have reached me from ,cotland, and I am told that Buchan meant his prophetic records to apply chiefly to his own district of 'South-East Scotland. A London weather recorder noticed that two years ago the warm spell began pre- cisely on the day when Buchan's period ended! Scottish weather, al course, is conditioned as a rule from the North-West as is South English from the South-West, and Iceland and the Azores produce startling contrasts.