XVI. 



REPORT ON THE RAINFALL LN HERTFORDSHIRE IN TUB 



YEAR 1898. 



By John Hopkixsox, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.K Mct.Soc, Assoc. Inst. C.E. 



Read at Ifatford, 2Sth March, 1899. 



The first annual report on the rainfall in Hertfordshire, that 

 for the year 187G, contained the results of observation taken at 

 23 stations. There has been a gradual increase in the number of 

 observers, and the addition of four in 1898 to the number for the 

 previous year more than doubles that for 1876, bringing the 

 number up to 48. Three stations disappear from our list — 

 CowiolvS. Sawbridgeworth, the observer having left the neigh])our- 

 hood ; Fairhill, Berkhamsted ; and the Old JS^urseries, Cheshunt. 

 The additional stations are Melbourne Street, Royston ; Baldock, 

 ■which adds a river district, the Upper Ivel ; Cowroast, Tring, 

 a fonner station replaced ; Rose Cottage, berkhamsted ; Little 

 Callipers, Chipperfield ; Desmond Cottage, Bennington ; and 

 (rilston Park, which replaces Sawbridgeworth as the only station 

 in the Stort river district, and, although near Harlow in Essex, is 

 "on the Hertfordshire side of the county boundary. 



The number of daily records received is 36, which is one more 

 than in the previous year. 



Particulars of the 48 rainfall stations, and the monthly and 

 total rainfall and number of days of rain in the year 1898, are 

 given in Tables I and II, pp. 123-125. 



A supplementary table (Table III, p. 126) gives six other 

 records of the total rainfall in the year. Two are the records of 

 additional gauges at Rothamsted, one is that of an additional gauge 

 at Odsey, one is that of a third gauge at Royston, and two are 

 imperfect records omitted fi'om Table II. 



The mean rainfall in the county in the year 1898 was 19-39 

 inches. This is 7 '35 inches below the average for the decade 

 1880-89, and 7-04 inches below that for the half-centmy 1840-89. 

 The yeai' was, therefore, one of very small rainfall, in fact smaller 

 than in any other year in this period. The mean number of wet 

 ■days in the year was 152, being 16 less than the average for the 

 twenty years 1870-89. A smaller number has been recorded. 



The defect in the year's rainfall was almost entirely in the first 

 nine months, in only one of which — ILay — was the fall above the 

 average. October was, as usual, the wettest month in the year, 

 but the fall was nearly a tenth of an inch below the very high 

 average for the month in the half-century 1840-89. In May and 

 December the fall was more than half an inch in excess of the 

 average. In the first nine months the fall was 7-36 inches below 

 the average for the same period in the half- century, and in the last 

 three months it was 0-32 inch above this average. 



Droughts in 1898. — Droughts — " absolute " of more than 14 days' 



VOL. X. — PART IV. 10 



