26 
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER st, 1907. 
Weather Forecasting, 
BY 
Mr. W. MARRIOTT, F.R.M.S. 
Illustrated with Lantern Slides. 
A instructive insight into the methods by which the meteoro- 
logical experts arrive at their daily forecasts of the weather 
was afforded members of the Society by Mr. W. Marriott, 
F.R.M.S., who came down from l.ondon to lecture on the 
subject. Mr. G. Morgan, the President, introduced the lecturer, 
with the comment that as no part of a man’s environment 
subjected him to so many surprises as the weather, few matters 
could be of more interest to them. The lecture followed very 
appropriately upon the recent visit paid to the meteorological 
station at the Brighton Town Hall, and Mr. Marriott now showed 
by lantern slides of charts how observations from such stations all 
over the world were collated daily and made to yield deductions 
from which it was possible to construct fairly reliable forecasts. 
It was necessarily a very technical lecture, but it was made 
surprisingly lucid, and one incidental feature that was greatly 
enjoyed was the exhibition of a series of beautiful photographic 
cloud studies. Mr. Marriott was able to tell the south coast— 
and Brighton in particular—some flattering facts about its 
immunity from rain and fog, and its big proportion of sunshine as 
compared with other parts of the country. Brighton averages 
just over 1,700 hours’ sunshine in the year, while London has 
only 1,260; and in the winter months the figures in Brighton 
were double those in London. It was probably news to most 
that there is an average of 22 calm days a year in England, and 
that on an average the wind comes from the south-west on 106 
days. Several members afterwards put questions to Mr. Marriott, 
who was heartily thanked for his interesting lecture, on the motion 
of the President, seconded by Mr. F. Harrison. 
i 
