Meteorological Sub-Committee for 1894. 165 



contains a record of all faUs of rain of 1-00 in. and upwards, 

 extracted from Appendix I. 



With respect to the rainfall of the year, a great many persons 

 in this district would have said that 1894 was a very wet year. 

 Our hon. member Mr. Symons has, however, shown, m a letter 

 published in the ' Times ' of January 19tb, that the ramfall of 

 1894 may be considered as quite an ordinary ramfall. However 

 this may be over the whole of the United Kingdom, the records 

 in the possession of your Sub-Committee show that, at all events 

 in our district, the year has been a very wet one. To prove this, 

 tables A, B, C, D, and E have been constructed. 



Tables A, B, and C refer to Greenwich. Table A shows that 

 the rainfall is 1-77 in. above the 75 years' average (1816-90), 

 2-34 in. above the 50 years' average (1841-90), and 2-46 m. above 

 the 35 years' average (1856-90). These tables show m a marked 

 way how fallacious a short average may be ; and as far as one can 

 judge it would appear that even a 75 years' average may be too 



small. , .1 or » 



Tables C, D, and E give the difference from the 35 years 

 average at Greenwich, Surbiton, and Mt. Ararat, Wimbledon, 

 the only three stations in the printed sheet having this long 

 average. This shows in respect to 1894 an excess of 2-46 in. at 

 Greenwich, 3-08 in. at Surbiton, and 5-61 in. at Mt. Ararat, 

 Wimbledon. This last amount appears somewhat large, but it 

 is probably correct, for we, who live in the district, all know that 

 a great many storms travel along the Wimbledon range of hills. 



With regard to the question as to what is the excess of the 

 rainfall over the district on an average of a long series of years, 

 it appears to be between 2 and 8 in., not a large amount when 

 the deficiency of 1893 was estimated at 5 in. 



The district, so far as your Sub-Committee is aware, has not 

 been injuriously affected by the floods, of which we heard so 

 much from the daily papers as having taken place in different 

 parts of the Catchment Area of the Biver Thames. 



The Sub-Committee would draw the attention of the members 

 of the Club to the comparatively large number of days— eight m 

 number—on which 1 in. or more fell in twenty-four hours, and 

 in so doing would call attention to the very large fall of 2-42 in. 

 on October 30th at Chatfield Eoad, Croydon. The Sub-Committee 

 have no reason to doubt the observer's accuracy, though the 

 amount appears large in comparison with other stations near by. 



In conclusion the Sub -Committee desire to express their 

 thanks to those four gentlemen who so kindly subscribed the 

 sum of £20 to enable this great work to be carried on, and 

 to all the observers for their hearty co-operation m so promptly 

 forwarding their returns. 



