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The temperature is officially recorded only at Waltair, though meteorological observations of much value are made at the G. V. Jagga Rao observatory at Vizagapatam referred to on p. 382 below. The average maxima and minima and the mean for each month and for the whole year registered at the former station are shown in degrees Fahrenheit in the margin. The annual mean (^2°) is rather higher than that of Gopalpur in the next district to the north (79"-6), and rather lower than that of Cocanada, the next recording- station to the south (82°-l); but the average maxima in the three hottest mouths (April, May and June), though five degrees in excess of those at Gopalpur, are from two to six degrees below those of Cocanada. Waltair is damp, but less so than Cocanada and much less than Gopalpur, the annual mean humidity at the three places being respectively 72-6, 74-6 and 81 'O. The moistest part of the year is the middle of September and the driest the middle of December. . From November to February Waltair is pleasant enough, though like many seaside places in the tropics it is relaxing. The station has one great advantage which figures do not exhibit; namely, that it stands 200 feet above the sea, and so gets all the air there is, and that the Dolphin's Nose headland to the south of it deflects the debilitating long-shore wind and turns it into a sea-breeze. Waltair is cooler than Vizianagram, and far cooler than either Purvatipur or Narasapatam, both of which are shut off from the sea-breoze by low hills; but in the more relaxing months it is a less healthy place of residence than the drier stations further inland, such as Vizianagram or Bobbili.
The climate and temperature of the hilly parts of the district naturally differ altogether from those of the plains. Statistics are not available, but in the cold months on the 8,000 feet plateau fires and two blankets are required at night and the days are never really hot. The malaria which infests most of this country and others of the more virulent diseases of the district are referred to in Chapter IX below.
