METEOROLOGICAL WORK IN AUSTRALIA. 261 



MAP i\o. 2— JAXUARY 14th, 1891, 

 Shows a tropical " low " in the Gulf of Carpentaria, working its 

 ■way southwards over Queensland, whilst to the south is a " high," 

 having its maximum, 30-2in., over Tasmania, the south coast of 

 Victoria, and part of New South Wales between two "• lows." one 

 approaching from the west and south of the Leeuwin, and the 

 other to the east, covering southern New Zealand. 



With this map we had fine weather over Tasmania, Victoria, 

 South Australia, and Western Australia ; cloudy to gloomy and 

 very unsettled throughout Queensland and New South Wales, with 

 Tcdn, very heavy in former colony. 



Subsequent weather. — The " low " shown over the gulf country 

 of Queensland passed slowly southwards, and on the morning of 

 the 17th lay over the Riverina districts of \ew South Wales. 

 Very heavy and general rains continued all over the eastern 

 colonies, and heavy floods resvdted in many parts of Queensland 

 and New South Wales, and stormy conditions afi'ected the east 

 constline. The ''high" shown o& the south coast moved eastward, 

 as the "low" worked its way southward from northern Queens- 

 land. 



MAP No. 3— MARCH 12th, 1891, 

 Is a very important type. It shows a tropical cyclonic " low " 

 approaching the east coast between Sydney and Brisbane from the 

 north-east — a not infrequent occurrence in the summer. A "high" 

 lies to the south-east, with compact gradients, the maximum pres- 

 sure, about 30-4. embracing the whole of New Zealand. 



Another "high" is seen pushing its way over Western Australia, 

 whilst a " low " lies to the south of Victoria. 



This map and No. 2 deserve careful study, as the conditions 

 they indicate affect largely the weatlier on the east coast of 

 <iueensland and New South VVales generally, bringing heavy flood 

 rains in both colonies, the rains frequently extending well into the 

 interior, occasionally reaching the north-eastern districts of South 

 Australia. 



In this instance the weather was stormy, with heavy seas and 

 strong southerly gales along the New South Wales and South 

 Queensland coasts ; fine inland and throughout all southern, 

 central, and western Australia, with some cloud along the coast 

 between Kangaroo Island and the Leeuwin. 



The first indications we had of the approach of this disturbance 

 was on the morning of the 7th, when the barometer on the 

 Queensland coast commenced to fall, with freshening south and 

 south-east winds. By the morning of the loth it had become 

 merged into the low pressure waves shown off Tasmania, and 

 passed south of NeAv Zealand during the following night. The 

 weather, as it progressed, was very coarse and bad on the east 

 coast, with heavy rains ; but the rains were confined to the c^ 

 districts, and the reports on the 14th show heavy weather 



oastal I 



