October i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



325 



REPORT ON THE METEOROLOGY OF 

 INDIA FOR 1882. 



We have received from the Government of India 

 a portly volume, the eighth which has been issued 

 since Mr. Blanford commenced publishing the re- 

 sults of his own observations and of the information 

 supplied to him. Besides other illustrations, there 

 is a map of India showing the sites of observatories 

 and rain eatige stations. As our readers are aware 

 1882 was a year of excessive rainfall over a con- 

 siderable portion of Ceylon, so that it may be inter, 

 esting to compare the figures for a few stations on 

 the continent and in our island. But, first, we may 

 say that Mr. Blanford, referring to a table which 

 gives the number of days ou which the rainfall has 

 been measured at 457 states, states that 



Table XIV (appendix) •-•ivis the number of days on 

 which the rainfall has been meaaured at 457 stations 

 From this table it appears that the wettest station 

 was Galle, where r*iu fell on not has than 234 days, 

 and next thereto Pott Blair, with rain on 20G days,, 

 and Nuwara Kiija with 201 rainy days. The driest 

 stations were, as in the previous year, Jacobabad, 

 whi re, rain amounting to a total of 2' 17 inches fell 

 on 11 days. Shikar) ur had the same number of rainy 

 days, but the total fall was 4 91 inches, or more 

 than double the above. The rainfall of Cherrapunji 

 was only 391 inches, and next in order came Maha- 

 bleshwar with 374J inches, a very unusual amount, 

 even at this exposed station. 



The " only " against Cherrapunji indicates that 

 tliis, the rainiest station on the face of the globe, came 

 much short of its average of 48611 inches. The average 

 rainfall of Mahbleshwar has already been mentioned as 

 267*12, and we notice that Bavda, also in the Bom- 

 bay Presidency, is down for 254 '59 and Matheran 245 51 . 

 Bombay itself (Byculla Hospiial) averages 81 ■ 10, while, 

 as a contrast to Mahbleshwar, Jacobabad has only (as 

 Mr. Blanford has pointed out) an a v. rage of 4 2 1 inches. 

 No wonder, if the dwellers in such a climate should be 

 rather dry, as those at Lkerrapunji must be some- 

 what limp. The average rainfall at Madias is 4S72, 

 somewhat over the average of Jaffna, but Maugalore on 

 the west coast of the same Presidency shows 133 39 

 inches. The average rainfall of Calcutta is 65 64 ; of 

 Darjiling 121 14, and of Mongpoo, where the Sikkim 

 Cinchona Gardens are situated, 129*46. Cherrapunji 

 is included in Assam, but in the tea districts the 

 average rainfall vanes from 15639 against Sylhet, 117'20 

 Silchar, 113-99 Dibuaghar, to 94-91 Sibsagar, 9556 

 Goalpara, 6958 Gauhati. 80 24 Nowgong, and 8729 

 Shillong. The highest average of twelve Ley Ion stations 

 included is for Katuapura 149 76 ; the lowest against 

 Mannar 35'32. Nuwara Eliya stands higher than we 

 thought with an average of 101*76. British Burma 

 shows' an average of 211'4S at Sandoway, 100\>7 Kan- 

 goon and only 52*97 at Prome. Of the Ceylon stations, 

 Jaffna had 24*78 inches in 1882, above its average, 

 Mannar 12 - 57, and Trincomalee 12 00. Kandy had 

 25 '48 excess, and Nuwara Eliya 27 '54. No wonder, 

 though there is a reaction this year. Colombo had 

 6 90 below its average, but it more than made 

 up for this in lb83. Anuradhapura had 10*52 

 above, its average, but Hambantota 5*15 below. 



Mr. Blanford states : — " In Ceylon the rainfall was 

 excessive on the hills and at Ratnanapura, and Trinco- 

 malee and Jaffna had more than an average fall, 

 and nowhere was there any considerable deficiency.' 

 Coming to the figures for 1SS2 we get for Aden only 

 1-78, Peshawur 11*45, Delhi 24*69, Simla 58, JSaini Tal 

 10440, Benares 40*18, Calcutta 61*02, Darjiling 

 144*18, Buxa 252*93 (of which 82*73 in August !), 

 Silchar in Assam 109*40, Sylhet 176 75 (great and 

 destructive floods), Sibsagar 82*19, Gauhati 66*75 

 Te-jpur 70*16, Bombay 69*23, Matheran 265*70 



Mahableshwar 37449, Jacobabad 2*17, Madura 30*22, 

 Manantoddy 175*61, Madras 50*20, Colombo 79*63, 

 Jaffna 69*22, Hatnapura 149*53, Kandy 111*12 : Nuwara 

 Eliia 129 30 and Hainbautota only 31*9S. 



Mr. Blanford notices that, although 1882 was a 

 year of the maximum of sun spots, its meteorological 

 phenomena gave but slight support to the theory of 

 the effects of sun spots on the weather, and he adds : - - 



A far more promising field of enquiry, in my opinion, 

 lies in the attempts which have been made, in this and 

 previous reports, to correlate the variations of the several 

 meteorological elements inter se, and to trace out their mutual 

 inter-action, under the guidance of the verified laws of 

 atmospheric physics. 



In Europe and America, the attention of the leading 

 meteorological physicists would seem to have been concen- 

 trated, of late years, mainly ou the physics of the vortical 

 movements of the atmosphere, of cyclones, and anti-cyclones, 

 the importance of which is keenly felt, owing to the promin- 

 ence given to storm-warnings and forecasts of impend- 

 ing weather, among the objects of the national systems of 

 weather report. 



In India, storm-warnings also have an importance ; but 

 it is chiefly local and restricted to certain seasons of the year; 

 and other and more comprehensive problems force them- 

 selves on our attention and await their solution at our hands. 

 Foremost among these are all questions bearing on the 

 vicissitudes of the rainfall. The provinces of India, most 

 subject to drought, are those which present wide ex- 

 pauses of treeless plains or slightly undulating plateaux, 

 furnishing but little vapour to the atmosphere from any 

 permanent source of local evaporation ; and which, at oppos- 

 ite seasons, are swept by dry laud winds, and alternatively, 

 by the vapour-brinymg monsoon. Seasons of thought are 

 due to the unusual and unseasonable persistence of the 

 former winds, and the exclusion of those from the sea ; and 

 thus one of the most important subjects, that can engage the 

 attention of the Indian meteorologist, is the physical history 

 of the laud winds and the conditions which give them birth. 

 It cannot be pretended that, as yet, we have gained more 

 than some glimpses into the solution of the comprehensive 

 problem, here presented to us. It was observed at an early 

 stage of the systematic study of Indian meteorology, that 

 the prevalence of one or the other of the great wind cur- 

 rents which dispute the mastery of the region in question, 

 is associated with certain features in the distribution of 

 atmospheric pressure ; which features are remarkably per- 

 sistent, lasting sometimes, without any essential alteration 

 of type, through two or more consecutive seasons. But 

 the circumstances which influence the atmospheric press- 

 ure, even apart from such as are merely local and 

 ephemeral, are very complex. It has been found that, 

 contrary to European experience, the pressure of the atmo- 

 sphere is, as a rule, unduly high, when the temperaturo 

 is also high ; and since it is obvious that a high temper- 

 ature must reduce the density of the atmosphere, and then - 

 fure its pressure as a gravitating mass, the conclusion was 

 forced upon us that, under such circumstances, the observed 

 excess of pressure must be due to the condition of the 

 more elevated atmospheric strata ; and that the effect o( 

 these must be partially neutralized by the condition of 

 those lower strata, the temperature of which alone 

 is recorded in our registers. The evidence afforded by 

 the barometric observations of the Indian hill stations 

 gives strong confirmation to this view. 

 ihe discovery thus made of the influence on Indian 

 weather of the far up si rata of the atmosphere, we 

 need scarcely point out the connection with this 

 fact of Mr. Blanford 's recently developed theory that 

 in proportion as snow falls heavily on the higher 

 range- of the Himalayas, so is there likely to be a 

 deficiency of rainfall on the plains of India. Mr. 

 Blaudford goes on to state : — 



But further, we learn from general mechanics that, 

 while variations in the distribution of pressure over con- 

 tinents and seas primarily determine the directions of 

 the winds, the very movement of the air re-acts on the 

 pressure, exercised not only by these winds themselves, 

 hut also by the air of neighbouring regions; and we art 

 thus called upon to determine, which of those barometric 

 features, found to be associated with certain prevalent 



