228 EATNFALL IN HERTFOEDSHIRE IN 1878. 



Juno 30— Wansford House, Watford, 1-99 ; Oaklands, Watford, 2-77; Moor 

 f'ark, llickmansworth, 1 -aS ; East ]3arnet, 1'85; Bayfordbury, S'OS ; 

 Ware, 1-38; Much Iladham, l'9o. 



July 14— Nash Mills, 1-U; Berkhampstead, 1-09. 



August 4— East Barnet, 1-24 ; Ilitchin, I'lO. 



Aug. 5 — Bayfordbury, 1-14; Datchworth, I'll. 



Aug. 10— Moor Park, I -01. 



Aug. 23 — Keuswortli, l-o2. 



Aug. 24 — Berkhampstead, 1"50. 



Aug. 29— llothamsted, 1'04. 



October 21— Kothamsted, 110. 



November 14 — Much Hadham, r05. 



Nov. 15 — Aspenden, 1-19. 



The most remarkable feature of the rainfall in 1878 is the 

 number of heavy falls of rain and snow, and the excessive amount 

 of some of these falls. The floods from the fall on the 30th of 

 June did much damage, especially in the neighbourhood of Hertford. 

 It was not, however, an excessively wet day all over the county, 

 for the fall was the heaviest in the month at only 9 stations out 

 of 21. On the 10th of April the fall, which occasioned the highest 

 flood ever recorded in the neighbourhood of "Watford,*' was more 

 generally a heavy one, being the greatest in the month at 16 

 stations. The falls on the 13th of February and 7th of May seem to 

 have been most generally heavy, for they were the greatest in those 

 months at 1 9 and at 1 8 stations respectively. Falls exceeding one 

 inch occurred in four months of 1876, in five months of 1877, and 

 in seven months of 1878, which is therefore an exceptional year, 

 both as to the excessive amount of several of the falls of rain, and 

 the general dispersion of heavy falls over the different months of 

 the year. 



Reports on the rainfall in Hertfordshire have now been given for 

 four years, from a few stations for 1875, and for stations distributed 

 over every part of the County for the last three years, and every 

 year of the four the fall has been considerably above what the 

 average for a long period would be. It is therefore evident how 

 uncertain any deductions from the records of a limited number of 

 years must be, and it seems probable that a period of something 

 like a quarter of a century must be required to enable a deduction 

 within moderate limits to be made of the average yearly fall of rain 

 at any locality or in any county. 



* See * Transactions,' Vol. II, p. xxv. 



