362 METEOROLOGICAL NOTES. — DOANE. 



tracks. The sewers on some streets became surcharged so that 

 the water spurted from the manholes to a height of several 

 feet. Seldom has a continuous downpour lasted for so many 

 hours. 



The Director of the Observatory at St. John, N. B., reports 

 a record-breaking thunder shower on July 15th, 1901, at the 

 close of one of the hottest days of the season. The fall was 

 .58 inches, nearly the whole of which fell in about 10 minutes. 

 The Director estimates that during the greater portion of that 

 time the fall exceeded the rate of Sh inches an hour. The 

 measurements were made with an ordinary gauge as the obser- 

 vatory was not provided with an automatic register. 



The total precipitation in Halifax in February, 1901, was 

 . 966 inches. The smallest fall previously recorded for that 

 month was 1 .61 in 1873. In May, 1903 only .676 inches fell 

 the next smallest being 1.769 in May, 1894. 



SNOW. 



The winter of 1904-5 will long be remembered for its exces- 

 sive snowfall. The tirst sleighs appeared on the streets of 

 Halifax during the evening of December 13th and runners 

 were in continuous service until March 27th. 



Snowstorm followed snowstorm in rapid succession until 

 streets, roads and railways were piled high, blockading traffic 

 and paral3'Zing business. Each heavy storm was pronounced 

 the worst by far for the past twenty to fift}' years, yet each 

 succeeding storm seemed worse than its predecessor. 



In the city the street railway company managed to get their 

 lines open after each storm, except in the western suburbs, the 

 track from Coburg Road to Willow Park being snowed under 

 on Februar}^ 11th by a heavy gale and storm and remaining 

 closed until April 5th. On portions of the main line the snow 

 piled so high that the sweepers could not throw it clear and on 

 some streets the track became walled in by four feet of packed 



