XIX. 



EAIXFALL IX IIERTFORDSBIRE, 1840-79. 

 By the Ret. C. AY. Hauvey, M.A., F.M.S. 



Read at Watford, Uth December, 1880. 



OxE of the objects of oui* Society being the investigation of the 

 meteorology of the county in whicli we live, it occurred to me 

 that it might be both useful and interesting to lay before the 

 Society a few facts connected with the rainfall of the County of 

 Hertford ; facts di'awn from records furnished me by various local 

 observers, whom I would here most cordially thank for their 

 assistance. 



I have endeavoured to effect my object by means of tables, 

 because tables are concise, and, what is more, speak for themselves. 



Table I. — This table gives the general distribution of the 

 stations now in existence. Following a plan, devised I believe by 

 the late Mr. Coleman, and elaborated by Mr. Pryor, for the pur- 

 poses of botanical research,* I have divided the county into 17 

 llrvER DisTEiCTS. The table gives the names of these districts, 

 with the number of stations in each. Thus we see that our weak 

 points lie in districts 1, 3, 6, 7, 14, and 16. 



Table II. — This gives the particulars of the stations now in 

 existence, the oldest of which has entered upon its 47th year, 

 while two others are scarcely less venerable. 



Tables III, IV, V, VI. — Dividing the period into four decades, 

 I have in these tables deduced the mean monthly and annual fall 

 in each decade ; also the mean values of the wettest and driest 

 years. In drawing up these tables I have only made use of the 

 records of those stations which have been able to furnish complete 

 returns for the decade. Comparing these four tables, it will be 

 noticed that while the mean fall for the 5th and 6th decades of the 

 century differs very slightly, and while the 7th is about the mean, 

 of the two preceding decades, the 8th decade shows a very marked 

 increase. 



Table VII. — The object of this table is to show in what per- 

 centage the rainfall was distributed throughout the year. By this 

 we see that whilst the driest quarter in each decade was alternately 

 the 1st and 2nd, the wettest quarter, with the exception of the 

 5th decade, was the 3rd. The first quarter in the 6th decade 

 appears to have been an exceptionally dry one. 



Table VIII. — What constituted a wet day was for some time a 

 doubtful point. I have, therefore, in considering this part of my 

 subject, gone no further back than the decade just completed. The 

 stations upon the records of which this table is based are, Nash 

 Mills, Berkhampstead, Hitchin, and Royston. There is no very 

 great difference in the number of wet days per month, the mean 



* See map, ' Trans. Watford Nat. Hist. Soc.,' Vol I, Pt. 3. 



