EDITORIAL NOTE 



This volume is in continuation of the two previous volumes of 

 World Weather Records published as volumes 79 and 90 of the Smith- 

 sonian Miscellaneous Collections. Volume 79 contained data from 

 the earliest available observations up to 1920, volume 90 covered the 

 period 1921-1930, and the present volume the period 1931-1940. 



The data have been arranged alphabetically, first under the grand 

 divisions of the earth as Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, etc., then by 

 countries or political divisions as Arabia, China, India, Iraq, etc. In 

 the great oceans the subdivisions were made alphabetically by islands 

 or island groups. In each country or island group, the stations were 

 then arranged alphabetically, as Abilene, Albany, Bismarck, Charles- 

 ton, etc. This system involved a somewhat different arrangement of 

 the stations in Africa and the Indian Ocean in the present volume 

 from that in previous volumes. 



The grand divisions and the countries are given under their Eng- 

 lish names, but the names of the stations have been given as nearly 

 as possible to accord with the spelling used in the countries where 

 they are located, and the English equivalent is given in parentheses. 



The units used are those in which the data were sent from each 

 country. In the case of atmospheric pressure there are three units in 

 use : inches, millimeters, and millibars. In temperature two units are 

 used: Fahrenheit and Centigrade. In rainfall there are also two 

 units : inches and millimeters. This great diversity is regrettable. It 

 is hoped that at an early date there may be international agreement on 

 uniform units. 



At many of the stations the height of the barometer, Hb, was 

 changed since the last reports. In most of these cases, where it was 

 possible, the pressure was reduced to the old heights by constants 

 which are given in the notes. In other cases the hours of observation 

 were changed. In such cases no corrections were available. 



The data from most of the countries has been checked by plotting 

 the data from adjacent stations over each other and a few errors cor- 

 rected by correspondence. 



The totals of precipitation are understood to include all forms of 

 condensed moisture : rain, snow, sleet, hail, etc. The snow, sleet, and 

 hail are given their equivalents of water by melting, weighing, or 

 estimating. In the Tropics, the precipitation is chiefly rainfall, in 

 temperate latitudes it is rain and snow, and in polar latitudes chiefly 

 snow. 



