INTRODUCTION. 



THE following essays on "AUSTRALIAN WEATHER" have been 

 brought together and published in book form by the Hon. 

 RALPH ABERCROMBY, for convenient reference by students of 

 Meteorology, because he thinks that they are important contri- 

 butions to our knowledge of the Meteorology of a new field. In 

 passing it may be mentioned that the preparation of them has 

 been made possible by the very complete Meteorological records 

 of the Sydney Observatory, especially the continuous automatic 

 records of wind, rain, barometer, and weather charts introduced 

 by the present Director. These afford the means of reference to 

 wind and weather at any moment since 1863, and the barograph 

 since 1870, without which it would have been impossible to study 

 in the necessary detail the so-called "Southerly Burster," which 

 is perhaps the most remarkable of the "squall " winds which are 

 found in various parts of the earth. 



The first essay, "Moving Anticyclones," is here reproduced 

 with the consent of the author. It establishes the progressive 

 easterly motion of weather over Australia. The great importance 

 and controlling influence of anticyclones upon the usual weather, 

 traces their progress over Australia, and the changes produced in 

 them by the contour of the country, gives records of the number 

 of such weather systems which pass over Australia every month 

 and year, and traces their motion in latitude with the seasons, 

 and shews that their average daily progress over the mainland is 



