108 RAINFALL IN DORSfiT. 



that the mean of the 48 stations comprised therein amounted to 

 3 3 -8 Sins., so the county has received a trifle over the average 

 rainfall of the previous 50 years. 



Its fall was very unequally spread over the different months. 

 January received more than double its usual share, but of the 

 seven months beginning with March, with the exception of May, 

 all were very dry, culminating with only 0*98 as the mean for 

 August and 1*03 for September. With October the drought 

 broke, with copious rain on both the ist and 2nd, and November 

 followed with a total above the average. 



The fall in January was most remarkable. Upwards of i in. of 

 rain was recorded at eleven stations on the ist, and at no less 

 than 34 stations on the 2nd. Again, on the i6th January, 

 upwards of i in. fell at 14 stations. During the year, upwards 

 of i in. was registered on 1 6 different days, viz., three in January, 

 two in May, two in June, three in October, and six in November. 



At two stations, upwards of 2 in. was registered on i3th May, 

 namely, at Gillingham 2'36in., and at Milton-on-Stour 2*o6in. 

 The storm which produced this rainfall was of unusual heaviness, 

 and it is referred to in some of the following "Observers' 

 Notes." It was, however, very local, and at only four stations 

 was upwards of i in. taken on that day, viz., at Gillingham, 

 Milton-on-Stour, Buckhorn Weston, and Shaftesbury. The 

 storm appears to have extended along the N.W. part of the 

 county and to have been concentrated in its northern extremity, 

 but no rain was registered on that day at Winterbourne Houghton 

 or Winterbourne Whitchurch, or to the eastward of those places ; 

 and Wimborne, Sturminster Marshall, Parkstone, and the stations 

 near the S. coast as far as Lyme Regis entirely escaped. An 

 account of the storm and the damage caused by it was given in 

 the Three Shires' Advertiser of May ipth, 1906, from which the 

 following extract is taken : 



One of the most violent storms within living memory passed over the district 

 on Sunday. The morning was bright and fine, lout the clouds gathered thickly 

 early in the afternoon, and just before three o'clock thunder was heard. Soon 

 afterwards a heavy downpour of hail and ra\n commenced and continued almost 



