-METEOROLOGICAL RECORDS OF THE TRANSVAAL. 

 By Wm. Ci llex. 



(ABSTRACT.) 



L'p to the present there have been very few pubhshed records 

 of the Meteorology of the Transvaal, and those which I am putting 

 before you now have been taken at the station attached to the 

 Dynamite Factory, Modderfontein. The Factory itself is situated 

 about rr miles due north of Johannesburg, and the station adjoins 

 the Central Research Laboratory. It would be very tedious to 

 detail all the records, therefore only general comments will be made 

 in the few remarks which are to follow. In order to put them in 

 a form which can be easily grasped, a series of graphic representa- 

 tions have been prepared. The actual records embrace the follow- 

 ing :— 



1. Rainfall. 



2. Barometric pressure. 



3. Maximum temperature in the sun. 



4. Maximum and Minimum temperature in the shade. 



5. Actual temperature in the shade. 



6. Atmospheric moisture at 6 a.m. and 12 noon, absolute. 



7. Wind direction. 



With regard to the first, rainfall, two graphic diagrams are 

 ii.ppended. No. I. shows the rainfall month by month for the years 

 1898-1902, also for a few^ months of the year 1897. No. II. shows 

 graphically, on the other hand, the number of rainy days per month 

 over the same period. Now there is no factor so important to the 

 agricultural community of South Africa as rainfall, and, as you see. 

 it has an extraordinary variation up and down. The following are 

 the records for the years 1898-1902, inclusive: — 

 For 1898 it was 20' 10 inches. 



„ 1899 ., 2088 



., 1900 ,, 26'5o 



,, 1901 ,, 3o'6o 



„ 1902 „ 27-63 



25" 14 Average. 



taking the calendar year as the unit. 



Of course, we know that a rain-gauge situated half a mile away 

 might give quite different results, but over the year the figures are 

 pretty wsell averaged. Speaking generally, the last three years were 

 very much wetter than the previous two, and the diagram confirms 

 the fact that the soldiers must have had a terriblv bad time of it 

 in the year 1901. 



