PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 159 



enormous rainfall with which some parts of the world are 

 regularly visited. In a severe thunderstorm, as much as 

 ■15 to '20 will fall in as many minutes, or at the rate of 

 O'OI per minute. A fall of from 010 to 01 5, between 

 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., will make quite a wet day. 



Since writing this, I note in the " Times " of 8th 

 February, the results of a fall of less than three inches, 

 in five days following upon a wet January, where, speak- 

 ing of the district round Lincoln, it is stated that 

 " Thousands of acres of land are flooded in Lincolnshire, 

 and the loss to agriculturists will be incalculable. 

 Many houses in Lincoln are flooded, and at three of the 

 large engineering establishments work had to be stopped. 



. . . The bank of the Fossdyke Canal, at a point 

 seven miles west of Lincoln, gave way just as a barge was 

 passing, and the vessel was carried by the sudden rush of 

 water partly over the bank. It would have been taken 

 right into the adjoining field had not the captain realised 

 the position, and dropped anchor." 



What would be the effect on the Severn Valley of a fall 

 of 40 inches in one night, as reported to me last year by 

 the Rev Canon Parker through a relative in the Mauritius ? 

 But without contemplating any such a visitation, it is 

 clear that the Severn Valley would become largely un- 

 inhabitable with a rainfall of 80 inches per annum, such 

 as is common to the N.W. Coast of Scotland, and that 

 but for the marvellous adaptations of nature, if the rainfall 

 at Clifton were common to Tewkesbury, its Severn 

 meadows would be very prejudicially aff^ected. Eleven 

 inches more per annum fall at Clifton than at Tewkesbury. 



An interesting and practical point is apparent from the 

 return (when given) of the number of days with rain in 

 a year. This on my register for 14 years averages 172, 

 but it must be remembered that a rainfall day is 24 hours. 



