270 The Weather of 1902. 



37.44 in. This deficiency was not due to any protracted period 

 of drought, of which, in fact, there was less than usual, but to a 

 deficiency in quantity, spread over the whole year. There were 

 only two periods to which the term of drought or partial drought 

 could be applied, one in February, when for 12 successive days 

 only 0.02 in. of rain fell, and the other between the 24th 

 September and the 8th October, when for 14 days there was only 

 a slight fall of 0.02 in. The latter period proved extremely 

 favourable to the ingathering of the crops in a somewhat late 

 harvest. The true explanation of the small rainfall of 1902 is 

 to be found in the fact that although the number of days on 

 which it fell was very little short of the average, 198, as com- 

 pared with about 200, the quantity was deficient, that is, below 

 average, in every month except one. In April there was a 

 slight excess, but only to the amount of two-hundredths of an 

 inch. In all the other months, from January till December, 

 there was a deficiency, in some more and in others less, but so 

 much that the accumulated deficiency in the end of the year 

 amounted to almost seven inches. This was the driest year of 

 the sixteen during which observations have been taken at this 

 station. The next driest was in 1887, when it was 30.99 in., 

 and the next to that 32.39 in. in 1893. The average, as before 

 mentioned, is about 37 inches, but the amount has been as 

 much as 47 in., which was the quantity recorded in 1900. In 

 consequence of the deficiency of the past year there has been a 

 scarcity of water, as is well known, in many places. The driest 

 month was June, with a record of 1.68 in., the wettest December, 

 which had a little over four inches. 



Hygrometer. — The mean of the readings of the dry bulb 

 thermometer for the year was 46.4 deg., and it is worthy of 

 note that this annual mean, which is calculated from the 9 a.m. 

 and the 9 p.m. readings of every day, corresponds almost 

 exactly with the mean annual temperature as calculated from the 

 daily maxima and minima. This coincidence has been noticed 

 in previous reports, and it shows that the mean temperature 

 may be correctly ascertained by either of these methods. The 

 mean of the wet bulb thermometer for the year was 44.6 deg. — 

 dew point, 42.5 deg. ; while the relati\e humidity for the year 

 was 82 (saturation being equal to 160). This is rather less 

 than the average, which is more frequently 83 or 84, and corre- 



