112 RAINFALL IN DORSET. 



custom. The Hamworthy register is again imperfect and 

 irregularly kept. When there is any uncertainty the figures are 

 in italics. 



The Tables have been arranged as on previous occasions, with 

 an additional one (Table V.) shewing the distribution of Rainfall 

 on days of Thunderstorm during the great heat and on days of 

 heavy general rain. 



The driest month was March. January, February, April, and 

 November were wet. But the most noticeable feature of the 

 year was the long dry summer weather with rain below the 

 average from May to October. The rain, too, was very unequally 

 distributed, falling in local thunderstorms of great severity. 

 Consequently while the ground was much parched in places the 

 country elsewhere was fairly off for moisture. 



The ratio of the rainfall deduced from 37 stations, compared 

 with the period 1848-97, was as 90' i to 100. It varied from 

 80-9 at Horton and 827 at Cattistockto 106-9 at Dorchester and 

 106*5 at Herringston. 



An inch or more rain was measured on i day in January, 

 February, April, May, and October ; on 2 days in July, August 

 and December; and on 6 days in November. Of the heavier 

 falls, when the average of the whole county exceeded three- 

 quarters of an inch, the amount was rzgin. on November 3rd; 

 refill., November gth; *9iin., September 5th ; '85^., April i3th; 

 84-in., October 27th ; and '78111. on November 4th. The distri- 

 bution of rain in the more severe thunderstorms of July, August, 

 and September, and on 2 days in November, when the average 

 exceeded an inch, is shown in detail in Table V. Another 

 thunderstorm on the 3rd of August produced '83^. of rain at 

 Chickerell, Montevideo, and "jSm. at the Rectory ; '74in. at 

 Portland Bill; '7iin. at Portisham ; -66in. at- Fleet ; 'sgin. at 

 Wyke ; less elsewhere. There was no rain at many of the 

 eastern stations. 



Electrical disturbances were noticed on the 7th, izth, and 

 1 3th of February; the i2th and i6th of May; 28th of June; 

 nth and very generally from the 2ist to the 24th of July ; the 



