51 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES FOR YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30th, 1902. 



I'he year as a whole has been dry and cold, with less sun than usual in the Tunbridge Wells 

 district, but more than the averafje in the Eastern district. The mean dnily temperature for the 

 year was about 1" below the average, and the total rainfall four to five inches below the avtrao-e 

 The rainfall has been more or less below the average for six ye^irs, and the accummulated 

 deficieBcy is now about 20 inches for Canterbury and 30 inches for Dungeness. The rainfall in 

 Canterbury m 1901 was two inches less than in the driest year previously recorded (1898). This to 

 farmers and others is a very serious thing, and they asij if any e.xplanatiun can be <'iven, or whether 

 there is any prospect of more rain in the near future. " 



For many years it has been held that there is some connection between the weather and the 

 eleven year period of sun-spots. We have known for several years that many things on this planet 

 are influenced and governed by this epoch, such as the diurnal variation in the magnetic needle, the 

 manifestations of the Aurora Korealis, and those strange currents of electricity known as mai-nttie 

 earth currents, buf it basrtmained for Lockyer to recently point out some definite connection between 

 the sun and our weather. Lockyer discovered that the brilliancy of the iron lines ir the solar 

 spectrum decreased, and that certain unknown lines increased at the time of a sun-spot maximum and 

 when the variations in these two sets of lines were laid out on a chart it was found that the curves 

 crossed twice every sun-spot epoch of eleven years, and indicated that the sun had reached its average 

 temperature. He then found the rainfall of India was least and the famines occurred just be/ore the 

 crossing of these lines, and that immediately the lines crossed the rains became more abundant and 

 the famines were over. According to precedent these lines ought to have crossed in 1898 but up to 

 the present this had not happened, and the last few years instead of being rainy have been dry. In 

 India as well as here the deficiency has been gieatest on record over the largest area. 



Every .33 years the sun is hotter than usual, as in 1870-1871, and again in 1904 to 1905 and we 

 get less rain at the crossing before a sun-spot minimum than at the crossing before a sun-spot maxi- 

 mum. We thus have two periods in the 11 years when temperature is highest with least rain and 

 cold rainy periods between. Thus the mean temperature was greatest, and it was dry in 1893 1898-9 

 and again in 1904. Next year will, therefore, probably be cold and wet, followed by a very 'hot »nd' 

 fairly dry year in 1904. Rain has already become more abundant in India and Australia after the 

 great drought of the past few years. 



January and March were 2 J" to 3° hotter than the average, but nearly all the other months were 

 colder °'^' ^"8"^'- ""'^ September about 1° to 2" colder, but February and May were 4° 



In Febiuary we had three to four inches of snow and in thenight February 13-16, the thermometer 

 in the screen fell to 13" at Canterbury. 134- Tunbridge Wells, and 14" at Tenterden, and as low as 

 iij on the grass at tunbridge Wells, and ti'^ at Canterbury. 



It was the coldest May ever recorded in Kent, the thermometer in the screen during the middle of 

 the month fa ling as lo,v as 29;" at Tenterden and Tunbridge Wells, or to 20J" en the grass at 

 X:t""; ^t^ T"°>l''"f '"""'ll; """^ T 1' t^-t^^b-^- This 'severe f , ost did an imm.nseYmount 

 Ano^, T A u f™" bnds in the orchards. All the months were fairly sunny except May and 

 August, and all were dry except December (1901), May. June, and Auo-ust (190-') " 



ind hi '*^®"''^'' I';!'' vf'if "^'"■^^'•^t.o™. -"'th "i°<l and hail, wrouuht great havoc in the orchards 

 ?h« m!5"^ °V5-^''^ Maidstone district. This storm appears to have swept through the valley of 

 the Medway and did most damage near Maidstone, where 94 of rain fell in 2.5 minutes. The storm 

 of the So„/f r'^ ""^^ ^n" °^ """^'^'i^'l at Tenterden and Ashford. By the kindness of the Edi or 

 of the South Eastern Gazette we ar- able to show some of the effects of this storm (see plates) 



In conclusion I have to thank the observers mentioned in the reports for kindly sendin.. me their 

 re^o^tsf't^lott ^^'"t™'T""i Omceim<.rk.dMX}.) for other figures. I shall be glad "to receive 

 t^hate in w ?{"' A° take observations m the district. Before the end of the present year I hope 

 <^r.»l ZZ ' ""^^ 1° <^*'"«'-''«y a complete set of self-recording instruments, which automl 

 are c^henked ,„°d ^^T^ K """^1 exactly as on the charts. The recording instruments which 

 are checked and verified by regular standard instruments, are (1) a glycerine barometer- f2i 



thTruTXTu t''"°T'r ' '" Tt^'>^'°'t^'' photographic sunshine recoZrby mTa^s of whLli 

 the sun, through a pinhole, records the sunshiue on ordinary printing out photo paper- and (i) a. ' 

 simple pressure anemometer which records both the direction and pressure of the w?nd 



Medical Hall. ^- LANDER. 



Canterbury. 



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