PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 285 



sequence. As the rainfall, however, is often accompanied by storms, 

 the weather is frequently very unpleasant for man and beast. It is 

 especially in South Iceland that complaints are heard of the storms of 

 sleet during autumn, when everything becomes saturated with moisture 

 and rain penetrates into the houses through every chink and crevice. 

 The humidity is more considerable in South than in North Iceland, 

 which is shown for instance bv the fact that houses with turf walls 



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must be rebuilt more often in the southern districts. A cold, damp, 

 whitish fog, accompanied by sleet, is very characteristic of the 

 northern headlands, especially when the Greenland ice drifts back- 

 wards and forwards along the coast ; then fog may shroud the coast 

 for weeks and extend far into the valleys. The fog persists for a 

 long time also in other places along the coast, especially in East 

 Iceland. The amount of cloud also is generally great, especially in 

 North Iceland. 1 



The amount of rainfall varies greatly in the different parts of 

 Iceland, and in most places it is generally greatest during autumn 

 and winter; on Grimsey, however, it is greatest during summer and 

 autumn. The precipitation is greatest along the south and south- 

 east coasts: in the Vestmannaeyjar 1320 mm., and at Berufjord 

 1166 mm. The greatest amount of annual rainfall in the Vestmanna- 

 eyjar was 1587 mm., and at Berufjord 1737 mm. Along the west 

 coast the rainfall is much less, and still less in North Iceland, being 

 at Stvkkisholm 656 mm., but on Grimsev onlv 345 mm. At Stvkkis- 



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holm there are, however, on an average 207 rainy days, but on 

 Papey only 135, consequently, a much greater amount of rain falls 

 there at a time. At Berufjord the greatest amount of rainfall within 

 24 hours was 109 1 /? mm. (July); at Stvkkisholm 51.9 mm. (January); 

 and on Grimsey 34.3 mm. (November). Heavy showers and sudden 

 torrents of rain do enormous damage to the soil-layer on the moun- 

 tain-sides, which are usually woodless and unprotected, and occasion 

 numerous rock-slips which have often proved very disastrous to 

 property and human life. The frequency of fogs differs greatly at 

 different parts of the coast, but it is most frequent along the southern 

 part of the east coast where the warm and cold ocean currents 

 meet. At Berufjord there are on an average 171 foggy days annually; 

 here fogs are frequent at all the periods of the year, but they occur 

 most frequently during summer. On Papey (in the neighbourhood 



1 Amount of cloud (0 10): Vestmannaeyjar 6.2; Stvkkisholm 6.7; Berufjord 

 6.7; and Grimsey 8.3. 



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