for water in times of flood, enabling the river to run off slowly, so helping to preclude flooding in nearby towns. It has also served as a horse racecourse and once was a centre for aviation. Business Huntingdon is home to many local businesses, including Huntingdon Racecourse. Hinchingbrooke Business Park also contains offices and warehouses. Climate The nearest weather station for long-term data is at RAF Wyton, north-east of the town centre. More recently Monks Wood, to the north-west, has also provided data. Like most of Britain, Huntingdon has a temperate, maritime climate free of temperature extremes, with rainfall spread fairly evenly over the year. The absolute maximum recorded at Wyton was in August 1990; the temperature at Monks Wood rose in July 2006 to . The mean annual warmest day is , and on 16 days a year will rise to or above. Typically 43.2 nights of the year report an air frost. The absolute minimum at Wyton was in January 1982. The mean for the annual coldest night of the year is . With annual rainfall at under a year, the Huntingdon area is among the driest in the UK – 103.4 days on average record at least 1 mm of rain. All averages mentioned refer to the period 1971–2000. Demography Population Between 1801 and 1901, the current area of Huntingdon consisted of four parishes: Huntingdon All Saints, Huntingdon St Benedict, Huntingdon St John and Huntingdon St Mary. The populations of these were counted in the ten-year UK census and ranged in the period between 2,368 in 1801 and 4,735 in 1891. (The census was omitted in 1941.) All population census figures are taken from the report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight. For the censuses of 1961 and 1971, Huntingdon was combined with Godmanchester. In 2011, the parish covered an area of . The population density in that year was . Culture and community The former Literary and Scientific Institute is now Commemoration Hall. There are two RAF stations within of the town: RAF Brampton, once home to Headquarters RAF Support Command closed in 2013; RAF Wyton, once a major flying station but now also part of the DLO; and RAF Alconbury currently occupied by the United States Air Force. Part of the medieval infirmary hall of St Johns in the market place became Huntingdon Grammar School. It was attended by Cromwell and by