BRITISH RAINFALL, 1891. LONDON : G. SHIELD, PRINTER, SI.OANE SQUAHE, OHKbSEA, S.W. 1892. FLUCTUATION OF ANNUAL RAINFALL FROM A.D.1726 TO A.D.1891. Atai* London., S.W. BRITISH RAINFALL, 1891. ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN OVER THE BRITISH ISLES, DURING THE YEAR 1891, AS OBSERVED AT NEARLY 3000 STATIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, WITH ARTICLES UPON VARIOUS BRANCHES OF RAINFALL WORK. COMPILED BY G. J. SYMONS, F.R.S., CHEVALIER DE LA LEGION D'HOKNEUK, Secretary Royal Meteorological Society; Membre du Gonseil SocieteMeteorologique, de France; Member Scottish Meteorological Society; Korrespondirendes Mitgkid Deutsche Meteorologische Gesellschaft; Registrar of Sanitary Institute ; Fellow Royal Colonial Institute; Membre correspondant etranger Soc. Royale de Me'decine Publique de Belgique, $c. qc, AND H. SOWERBY WALLIS, F.R.MetSoc. LONDON: EDWAED STANFOKD, COCKSPUE STEEET, S.W. 1892. CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ., ... ... 7 REPORT THE EXCEPTIONAL CHARACTER OF 1891 ENQUIRY AFTER OTHER OBSERVERS ROTHERHAM EXPERIMENTAL GAUGES OLD OBSERVA­ TION BOOKS RAIN GAUGES OVERFLOWING SELF-RECORDING RAIN GAUGES ENGLISH LAKES IRISH RAINFALL FINANCE... ... 8 RECENT ANNUAL RAINFALL COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE PREVIOUS 165 CONSECUTIVE YEARS ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... 16 Ox THE EXCEPTIONAL FEBRUARY OF 1891 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 19 ON THE EVAPORATION FROM A WATER SURFACE AT CAMDEN SQUARE 24 RAINFALL AT THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH ... ... ... ... 26 THE STAFF OF OBSERVERS ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 27 OBITUARY ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 41 RAINFALL AND METEOROLOGY OF 1891. ON THE METEOROLOGY OF 1891, WITH NOTES ON SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL PHENOMENA ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... [ 3] OBSERVERS' NOTES ON THE MONTHS OF 1891 ... ... ... ... ... ... [ 37] OBSERVERS' NOTES ON THE YEAR 1891 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... [ 82] HEAVY RAINS IN SHORT PERIODS IN 1891 ... ... ... ... .. ... ... [117] HEAVY FALLS IN 24 HOURS IN 1891 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... [119] DROUGHTS IN 1891 ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... [131] MONTHLY RAINFALL OF 1891 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... [136] TABLES OF MONTHLY RAINFA.LL AT 233 STATIONS IN 1891 ... ... ... [137] ON THE RELATION OF THE TOTAL RAINFALL IN 1891 TO THE AVERAGE ... [147] COMPARISON OF THE RAINFALL OF THE YEAR 1891 WITH THE AVERAGE __ OF THE YEARS 1880-89 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... [149] EXTREMES OF RAINFALL IN 1891 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... [153] GENERAL TABLES OF TOTAL RAINFALL. EXPLANATION OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE GENERAL TABLES ... ... [156] COUNTY INDEX TO GENERAL TABLES ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... [157] ILLUSTRATIONS. FLUCTUATION OF ANNUAL RAINFALL FROM A. D. 1726 TO A.D. 1891 Frontispiece. MAP OF RAINFALL OF FEBRUARY, 1891 ... ... ... ... ... ... face p. 22 MAPS OF MONTHLY RAINFALL IN 1891 ... ... ... ... betweenpp. [144] [145] MAP OF ANNUAL RAINFALL IN 1891 ... ... ... ... ... ... facep. [148] ERRATA IN BRITISH RAINFALL 1890. Page 21. Thirteen lines from bottom, for Old Ford, read Lee Bridge. ,, 27. Eleven ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, fiaij. Glenlee, October, should be 3'60; and the year, 54'62. ,, [124]. In some copies the following queer misprint occurs A ctual. Should be. ,. Sleitrim......... I ,, Leitrim ......... XXIII. LFemr ......... XXIII. Fermanagh..... ,, Cavanagh ...... I ,, Cavan........... ,, [129]. Last line, 37'20, should be 36'20 ; and 5 should be 3. ,, [141]. Omit 8th and 15th entries they are duplicates. ,,[148]. Welwyn. The total should be 23'12. BRITISH RAINFALL, 1891. THE exceptional character of the rainfall of 1891 has involved, not merely a difference in the facts and figures to be reported, but to some extent a change in the arrangement of the book itself. So much time and care have been needed to deal properly with the records of 1891 that little has been available for experimental work, and therefore the latter portion of the volume has been developed at the expense of the former. This was obviously desirable because we could not go back upon 1891 in subsequent years, but the expe­ rimental and historical work can wait for fuller notice in an ordinary year. The result has been to give Mr. Sowerby Wallis and myself the hardest seven months' work we have ever had ; but at last this volume is finished, and I hope that it will be found worthy of the important facts which it chronicles. G. J. SYMONS. 62, CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON, N.W. July 28th, 1892. REPORT. The Exceptional Character of 1891. The natural result of trying, for upwards of thirty years, to make an annual work better in each succeeding year, is to make it quite a different undertaking at the end of so long a period from what it was at the commence­ ment. And when to that inevitable cause is superadded the fact that the material to be dealt with has increased to twenty times what it originally was, some idea may be formed of the relative labour of compiling "English Rainfall, 1860," and "British fiainfdll, 1891." But, as it happens, even that is not all that has fallen upon us this year, for we have had to deal with a year full of exceptional, and, in some cases, unprecedented phenomena. Among these we have the Drought in February, the West of England Blizzard in March, the various wet months in the latter part of the year, and the anomalous disproportion between the rain of the early and of the latter part of the year. All the data respecting these events have had to be checked, and some of them fully worked up. Moreover, naturally the remarks by the observers have been of more than usual interest and importance, and they have required much time for verification, classih cation, and fair copying for the printer. Much of the extra work, caused by the special phenomena mentioned above, does not appear in this volume at all. Perhaps the mention of two typical cases may tend to make observers more careful, and to lessen our work in future. In spite of Rule IX., some observers will persist in entering the rain against the day on which they measure it, instead of against the previous day. There was generally rain on January 31st this, of course, was measured on February 1st; but, by all careful observers, it was entered to January 31st. When it became our duty to work up the February returns, all these wrong date observations became evident, and had to be corrected before anything trustworthy could be pre­ pared. The Devonshire blizzard was also the cause of much work. Some observers were brave and careful, and obtained valuable results ; but it was not easy to do so. One observer was barricaded with 5 ft. of snow against every door. Several gauges were buried under drifts; one lady found that the wind had swept the grass clean all round the rain-gauge, and piled the snow more than 5 ft. deep near the entrance gates to her house, and she wrote to enquire what she was to enter as the depth of snow. Questions like these could be answered only after examining photographs and all available printed and MS. notes from surrounding stations ; and, after all, nothing but approximate values could be given. The only trace of this work in the present volume is the fact that, in the General Tables, some of the totals are printed in italic figures, thereby indicating that they have been corrected. The result of all this, and of other exceptional work, is to make this yearly volume of British Rainfall appear later than usual. Enquiry after other Observers. In the last volume I put a short paragraph asking for information as to additional observers. I do not like to reprint it, and yet it produced very little effect. I know that some who received the volume could have helped materially, and did not. Probably either they do not read the book when they get it, or they did not think it worth while to trouble to write. That is not energetic aid ; but as regards the correspondents of whom I am thinking, it did not matter I got the extra returns all the same. Rotherham Experimental Gauges. I regret that owing to the death of Mr. Berry, who has furnished me with copies of the records of these instruments ever since Mr. Chrimes presented them to the Corporation, the records have not reached me in such a condi­ tion as to justify publication. The gauges themselves, after more than twenty years' daily use, need restoration. I have been to Rotherham and examined them, but nothing is yet settled, as the Corporation decline to pay for the repairs. Old Observation Books. Very few of these have been sent in during the past year; in fact, as far as I remember, only one has been presented, viz., that kept by the Rev. A. J. T. Morris at Muthill, Perthshire, sent by his daughter. Another was purchased, and it is curious as containing two English records (not very long ones), of which I had not previously heard. Rain Gauges Overflowing. For the first time for many years there is not a single record spoiled in this way, but there is a somewhat analagous case the gauge at Loch Vraon, Ross-shire, was washed away by a flood in February ! b 1891. 10 Self-Recording Rain Gauges. The Casella and the cheap Richard gauges at Camden Square have both acted perfectly. The one designed by Mr. W. J. E. Binnie has been completed, exhibited and described at the Eoyal Meteorological Society, and some of them are now being made for sale. Mr. Binnie is kindly superintending the application of one to record on the Richard Bron- tometer, and I shall, therefore, I hope, next year be able to write positively about it. English Lakes. Although mentioned in the Chronicle in our last volume, and necessarily briefly again in the present one, I think it only right to mention here our indebtedness to Mr. Stephen A. Marshall, of Skelwith Fold, for establishing, and obtaining, numerous rain records from a district previously untouched viz., that known as the Langdales. Dr. Miller and Mr. Isaac Fletcher, M.P., followed by the late Mr. Maitland, have in turn borne the cost and care of observations in the Scafell and Borrowdale Districts.