42 Meteorology. 



11th of July and the 10th of August, during which the mean of 

 the maximum or highest day readings was 75 deg., and the mean 

 of all the readings, maximum and minimum, was 64'7 deg. This 

 was peculiarly favourable to the growth of the crops, and made 

 the harvest earlier than with a wet March and a cold April and 

 May it had threatened to be. 



Rainfall. — The total rainfall of the year amounted to 42'81 in. 

 Only once during the last ten years has the rainfall exceeded 

 this amount, viz., in 1891, when it was 42-92 in. And the only 

 other year which approached it was 1894, when it was 42'01 in. 

 The average amount for these years was 37 in., so that the past 

 year was in excess of the normal by 5 '81 in. The wettest month 

 was December, with a total of 8-39 in., which is fully double the 

 average for that month, and of the 8-39 fully 5 in. fell in the last 

 week, which was an extraordinary period of southerly and south, 

 westerly storms, with correspondingly heavy rains. On the 2Gth 

 and the 29th the amount for each day exceeded an inch and a 

 quarter, and these were the only occasions during the year when 

 the fall reached an inch. It is worthy of note that the amount 

 for that week very nearly accounts for the excess of the year 

 above the annual average. While December was the wettest 

 month, there were other two months in which the average was 

 considerably exceeded. These were March, with 5'51 in., as 

 compared with an average of 2'12 in., and August, with 575 in., 

 as compared with 3-92 in. After the 10th of August there was 

 rain almost every day until the 7th September, a circumstance 

 which interfered seriously with harvest work, and caused a 

 considerable amount of damage to the corn crops. But the 

 remaining part of September and October as a whole were drier 

 than usual, and greatly favoured the ingatliering of the harvest 

 in the later districts of the country. The number of days on 

 which rain or snow fell was 215 (rain, 205 ; snow, 10). The 

 average of ten years is 177 days, and 1897 shows the largest 

 number since observations were begun at this station. The next 

 to it was 208 in 1894, when the annual fall was also over 42 in. 

 Curiously enough, the driest month was January, with only 

 139 in. But May and July had each a record under 2 in., while 

 October also was considerably under average. March had 26 

 days of rainfall, August 25, and December 22, while July and 

 October had only 12, and Januai-y 14, six of which were in the 



