■^ Climate and Rainfall 



hoon heat seldom went higher than 87°, and only once in 

 December and twice in February reached as high as 90°. In 

 March there was a slight increase of temperature, which 

 occasionally went up as high as 93° at noon. 



At Mount Barclay, twenty miles from Monrovia, the shade 

 temperature at noon was only once recorded as reaching 100° 

 (at 2.30 p.m.), on February 3rd, 1905, in the height of the 

 dry season.^ The shade temperatures at Monrovia itself are 

 somewhat lower than at Mount Barclay, which is farther inland. 

 Al both places the extremes of heat and coolness are much 

 less during the rainy season, when the highest day temperature 

 seldom goes above 85° or at night-time below 75°.^ February 

 2nd, 3rd, and 4th showed, curiously enough, the lowest tempera- 

 ture of 1905 at Mount Barclay (near Monrovia), Sikombe, and 

 Putu. At Sikombe, evidently a place of extremes, on P^ebruary 

 2nd the thermometer at 6 a.m. registered 56°, on the 3rd 57°, 

 and on the 4th 57°. At Putu, thirty miles to the eastwards, 

 58 was registered on the same three days at 6 a.m. On 

 the other hand, at Mount Barclay on February 2nd, 3rd, and 

 4th the thermometer did not fall lower than 64° at 6 a.m. 



Ordinarily, on cloudy days during the three dry months and 

 through the remainder of the year when the rains are on, the 

 range of temperature in all parts of the coast of Liberia is not 

 extreme, generally averaging from 74° at 6 a.m. to 88° at noon. 



The strong sea breeze which for something like eight 

 months of the year blows from the south over the cool Antarctic 

 current materially relieves the heat all along the coast-line of 

 Liberia, but its effects do not reach very far inland. During 

 the months of December, January, and February the north 

 wind or Harmattan takes its place. This blows from the 



' In March and April, 1905, at Mount Barclay sun temperatures of 120° and 

 115° were registered concurrently with shade temperatures of 95° and 63°. 



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