374 . MONTHLP WEATHER RXVIEW. AUQUBT,1906 sults of observations made at cooperative stations of the Cf. B. Rizzo. Since 19pd the observatory has formed a part Weather Bureau, which are usually located in a village or of the Royal University of . small city, are to be preferred to those made at regular THE CLIMATOLO~ICAL ATLAS OF INDIA.’ Weather Bureau stations, as these are usually located in large The appearance of this work has been awaited with general and growing cities. Very little is usually known of the limited interest by the meteorological world since the publication, in area which surrounds a cooperative station, and yet the choice Indian Meteorological Memoirs, vol. 17 (Calcutta, 1904), of the of location in such an area would probably affeot the data as numerical data upon which it is hased, accompanied by the much as the presence of a city. announcement that the publication of the atlas had been sanc- In order to investigate the effect of a city on regular sta- tioned by the government of India. Now that the atlas is tions and get more accurate climatological data, a substation before us, we learn that a Handbook of the Meteorology of just outside the city is now often maintained. It would seem India is in preparation, which, with the atlas, will form a com- that still more valuable information would be gained if the plete work, each part supplementing the other, and be a record limited area about such a substation were investigated for two of the more important results of meteorological observation or three years and then two stations established, one at the and investigation in India during the period 1876-1900. warmest and the other at the coldest point. The Climatological Atlas of India takes its place beside Helhnann’s rainfall volumes for Germany (see July REVIEW,p. MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF CLIMA- 3t?S), as one of the two great contributions to geographical TOLOGY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. climatology that have appeared so far this year. As to the Ry C. FITZHLWHTaLVaN, U. I.i Weather Bureau. authoritative character of this work and the excellence of its CHARTS SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF CLIMATOLO~tICALSTAT11 )NH. mechanical execution, it need only lie said that its author is Next to a complete climatological clictionary, or compilation Sir ,John Eliot, the late meteorological reporter to the govern- of climatic normals for the world, perhaps the greatest de- ment of India, and the publishers are Nessrs. Bartholomew & sideratum in the way of climatological literature is an atlas C’o., who produced the beautiful Bartholomew-Herbertson- and gazetteer of meteorological stations.’ Charts showing the Buchaii ,4tlns of Meteorology (Bartholomew’s Physical Atlas, distribution of stations of all orders are especially desirable, vol. 3). as they enable one to determine exactly, at a glance. at what In order to see how much of an :tdvance the new atlas rep- points on the earth’s surface climatological observations are resents in the graphical presentation of Indian climate, the being carried on. Such charts are published by a few, 1)ut writer has compared the charts of pressure and temperature, only a few, of the climatological services of the world, in con- respectively, with Buchan’s pressure charts of the globe in nection with their periodical reports. (For the United States the Challenger Report (18S9, repriuted on a small scale in they are published in the annual summaries of the section Bartholoniew’s Atlas of Meteorology, 1899) ancl Buchan’s iso- reports issued by the C’limatological Service of the Weather thermal charts for India in Bartholomew’s Atlas of Meteorol- Bureau.) ogy, plate 9 (based on manuscript maps prepared for the With the approval of the Editor of the MONTHLYWEATHER Challenger Report). On the July pressure charts it is noted REVIEWthe writer intends to include in this column, from that the heart of the Bsiatic sumiiier <‘ low ” lies well up the month to month, sketch maps showing the location of mete- Indus Valley, instead of along the northern shore of the orological stations in various countries, especially those in Arabian Sea. where Buchan puts it. There are many other which meteorological work on an extensive scale has but important readjustnients of the isobars, especially in northern recently begun. Space will not generally permit lists of the India. It is noticed, however, that on the large plates (T-lO), stations to be included, nor any detailed statistics concerning showing the distribution of pressure over southern Asia and them, but it is hoped that the charts alone will prove an ac- the Indian Ocean, Buchan’s isobars have been copied exactly, ceptable contribution to climatology. In some cases these except over India itself, so that these plates hardly represent charts will be reprints of those that appear in various foreign the most recent knowledge of pressure distribution over the publications to which but few readers of the REVIEWhave av- Indian monsoon area. The isothermal charts in many places cess; but more often they will be especially prepared for the differ strikingly from Bnchan’s, and show how greatly the REVIEW,on the basis of the most recent information obtainable, latter stood in need of re\-ision in the light of recently by correspondence and otherwise. acc*umulateddata. . We begin the series with the chart accompanying the fol- Besides the 120 plates embraced in this work, representing lowing note. the iiorinal distribution and fluctuations of all the principal h NEW CLIMATOLOI3ICAL SERVICE IN . meteorological elements over India, there are 33 folio pages Following the example of the observatories of Palerino mcl of letter-press, containing, among other things, the best brief Clatania, which have established numerous tliermopluvionie- history of meteorological work in Indin that has yet appeared tric stations in their respective provinces, the observatory of THE FCIGS OF RUWENZORI. Messina has inaugurated a network of such stations in the That this much talked of mountain baffled the eEorts of . Their distribution is shown by the ac- some of the world’s most espert mountaineers to scale its companying chart, fig. 1. The greater part of these stations loftier summits until the present suinmer, when the feat was began their observations January 1, 1906, and the results are accomplished by the Duke of the Abruzzi, wa~not dne to the to be published hereafter in the Annuario of the observatory configuration of the mountain, which appears to offer no dif- of Messina. ficulties not easily surmountable by the ordinary expedients The director of this service, ancl of the observatory, is the of mountaineering, but to the fog or cloud in which the upper well-known meteorologist, geophysicist, and astrophysicist, levels are almost constantly enwrapped. Lieutenant Behrens, It. E., writing on “The snow peaks of An ideal work of this character would include former stations as well as those now in operation, providing they furnished trustworthy obser- Ruwenzori ”, in the Geographical Journal for July, says: vations for a reasonably long period. (For the latter no absolute limit Though for nine months in a neighborhood trim which, on most should he flsed. A station in the heart of Asia represented Ly six days, Ruweuzori might have been risible from my tent, I 5aw it only months of observations would he well worth incluiling; whereas ill Gpr- seven time<, and theu only for a few minubs jiist after sunrise. So many, with its 3000 stations, those having less than two years of ob- servations could very well be ignored, if no longer in operation.) The * Inalia. bIeteorologica1 Department. Climatological Atlas of India, work would then have a permanent value, regardless of the changes that putli4ied by the authority of the gorernnlent of Iuilia unqer the direc- are constantly taking place in the distribution of stations. tiou of Sir John Eliot. Edinburgh, 19W.

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Fig. 1.-Climatological stations in the province of Messina, Sicily. fleeting were the chances of observing, lietween the time when it was hlombera’s country, has an annual rainfall of 50.17 inches. light enough to see and when the clouds covered the peaks in rising Division No. 3, including the whole of the lower and upper mist, that I only once had time to sketch the range, and once again to observe all the five peaks visible. On the five other occasioiis there Shire area from Port Herald to Fort Johnston, has a normal was only time to observe the two highest points, while many a time, precipitation of 35.12 inches. Division No. 4, extending along when the instrument had been placed in position ancl the tele~oprdi- west Ny~safrom Nkattt Bay northward to Iiondowi, Nyika rected to the mountain, it was only to see the flrst cloud covering the Plateau and Iiaronga, has :c nornial yearly rainfall of 76.54 coveted pinnacles. And all this in spite of a daily watch being kept at dawn to apprise me of even the possibility of seeing the mouiitain. inches. Rainfall reports are now received at Zoniba from 40 stations Mr. Douglas Freshfield, in the Alpiue Journal for February in t,he protectorate. Normal climatological stations (as the and hky, 1906, also bears witness to the meteorological difli- British call xecond order stations) exist at Fort, Johnston, culties in the way of an ascent of this mountain, which he Zoniba, Chinde, and Livingstonia. It was hoped to place vainly attempted last year. baroiiieters at Blnntyre, on Zouba and Rllanje mountaim, and The most favorable months for climbing are said 11s the one at Nkata Bay during 1905. natives to be January and July. This, of course, is cine to the fact that, as Ruwenzori lies very near the equator, the equatorial CLIMATOLO(iI(‘AL WORK IN NORTHERN NIGERIA. rain belt is to the north of it in summer and to the south of it From a nieteorological pint of view Northern Nigeria is in winter, following the apparent inovement of the AUK one of the least known of the prckectorates of the European Several rainfall stations have been established in the vicinity powers in Africa. It is, therefore, gratifying to learn from a of Ruwenzori by the British authorities, ant1 me shall soon recent C‘olonial Report ( Anuual No. 476, Northern Nigeria know more about the meteorology of this interesting mountain. Report for 1904) that meteorological stations have now been RAINFALL OF THE BRITIsH CENTRAL AFRICA PROTECTORATE (NYAqALANIl). opened at every provincial heaclqnarters in the protectorate. The Colonial Report for the British Central Africa Yrotw- As Northern Nigeria is divided into 17 prohces, we take this torate for the year 1904-5 (Colonial Reports-Annual. No. to mean that 17 stations, widely distrihuted, are now furnish- 473) contains statistics regarding the normal annnnl rainfall ing climatological data. which will hereafter be summarized in of that region. It appears that four distinct areas exist as to the publications of the Colonial Ofice. The stittiom previously rainfall. Division No. 1, embracing the south and sontheast- existing were Zungeru, Lokoja, and Tola. ern dopes of Mlanje, has an average yearly rainfall of 107.56 The rainfall was very clefiicient in 1904, and in consequence inches. Division No. 2, embracing the Shire Higlilancls from the Niger was lower in the early part of 1905 than (it is said) north Mlanje to Blantyre, Angoniland and west Nyasa 111’ to had ever before been known in the memory of anyone.

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PROFESSOR HENRY’S CLIMATOLOOY OF THE UNITED STATES ”.’ observations made at the various reporting stations on the In a paper entitled “A Climatological Dictionary for the day of issue, together with a weather synopsis and a forecast. United States”, communicated to the Eighth International Geo- It remained, however: for Zi-ka-wei Observatory to under- graphic Congress, in 1904, Prof. A. J. Henry, of the United take the publication of a daily weather map for China. The States Weather Bureau, announced that the Bureau was pre- first number of this publication is clated July 1, 1906. paring for publication a volume of climatic Statistics for the This newest of daily weather maps consists of a printed United States, embodying the principal data available from base chart of eastern Asia, on which are stenciled isobars and every State and Territory. No large, comprehensive work of mind arrows, while on the back of the chart appear the nu- this character, covering the whole of the United States, had merical returns of observations at the reporting sfations and been published since Blodget’s ‘‘ Climatology of the United a synopsis of the weather conditions throughout the Far East. States ” ( 1857 ), Coffin’s “ Winds of the Northern Hemisphere ” The size of the sheet is 9 by 11; inches. (1853) and “Winds of the Globe ” (1876), and Schott’sprecip- The accompanying chart (fig. 1) shows the location of all itation tables (ad ed., 1881) and temperature tables (1876). stations for which observations are tabulated. It will be seen This work is now in the hands of the printer, and is expected that the field of observation eiiibraces, in a general way, the to appear about the middle of December, 1906. whole of eastern Asia, inclucling Japan and the Philippine Introductory chapters discuss the broader features of t>he Idancis. The stations are, however, very unevenly distributed climate, the latter term being used in the wide sense that in- over this territory. Of the continental stations the great cludes typical as well as average weather, the cyclonic and iiiajority are situated along t,he coast and the Yangtze Valley. anticyclonic control, and something of weather chronology- these being mostly stations of the Imperial Maritime Customs, notable storms, hot and cold waves, dry and wet seasons, etc. located at the treaty ports. It is somewhat surprising that This section extends to 84 pages, and is written in a style cal- no reports are published from Korea, as excellent stations culated to hold the attention of the general reader as well as nom exist in that country, under the direction of the meteoro- the special student of climatology. logical service of Japan. Far to the northwest are the stations Pages 85-112 comprise summary tables of normal tempera- of Tomsk, Irkutsk, TroitHkosavsk, and Chiha, belonging to the ture, precipitation, humidity, sunshine, and wind for regular Russian service, which is further represented by the stations Weather Bureau stations. at Vladirostok and NikolaievHk. on the eastern seaboard. The remainder of the work, which is not quite all in type at Japan, including Formosa, the Pescndores, etc., is represented this writing, will be macle up of the inclivicluttl climatic tables by fourteen stations, while the Philippine Weather Bureau for 686 stations. The stations are grouped by States, except contributes reports from the three stations at Aparri, Legaspi, that the New England States are treated together, as are Mary- and Manila. land and Delaware. The groups, therefore, correspond with the sections of the Climatological Service of the Weather Bureau, and the official in charge of each section contributes a sketch of the climate of hisown district. The climatic data for each station occupy one page, and comprise uniformly a brief history and description of the station, a table of monthly, seasonal, and annual iiieans, and a table giving the dates of abnormally high and low temperatures that have occurred during the period of observation. The volume will contain about 1000 quarto pages, and upwards of thirty plates.

THE FIRST DAILY WEATHER MAPS FROM CHINA. By C. FITZIIL~HTu,vn, U. *. Weather Buieau. Thanks to the public spirit of the great telegraph companies of the Far East, the observatories of Zi-ka-wei and Hongkong have for inany years received daily meteorologic*al telegrnrns, free of charge,’ from a large number of points in C‘hina, Sibe- ria, Japan, the Philippines, and Indo-China, ancl have thus been enabled to conduct a very successful storm-warning ser- vice, which is highly appreciated by the navigators of eastorn seas. The approach of storiiis is announced by signal at B number of stations along the China coast, besides bein:: coni- municated directly by telegraph to such masters of vessels as request the information. (The increasing estent to which this service is utilized is shown by the number of telegraphic re- quests for forecasts received at Zi-ka-wei Observatory from naval vessels alone, during three recent years; viz.: 19~1,75; 1902, 137; 1903, 184.) In addition to its storm-warning service, Hongkong Obser- vatory has long published a daily weather report, the “C‘hina Coast Meteorological Register ”, which gives in tabular form the Henry, Alfred Judson. Climatology of the TTiiited States. 1V:tsh- In most of the inland provinces of China, and in the rast ington: Government Printing Office, 1906. (United State6 Weather t,erritories of Tibet, East Turkestan and Mongolia, meteoro- Bureau. Bulletin Q. I logical work has hardly yet begun; hence these regions con- In 1899 the director of Hongkong Observatory estimated that the tribute nothing to the Chinese weather map. This lack of telegrams furnished gratuitoiibly to that observatory by the Eastern data from the west must be keenly felt by the forecasters of Extension and Great Northern Telegraph comlmnies would. if paid fur. amount to W250,OOO a year. The entire aniouut alluwed by the govern- China, Japan, and the Philippines, as a majority of cyclonic ment for the maintenance of the observatory is only $7,500 a year. disturbances on the China coast proceed from the interior of

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