SOUTHERLY BURSTERS. 27 



ARRIVES WHEN TEMPERATURES ARE LOW. 



It often arrives during a period of low temperature at Sydney, 

 and also when rain has actually been falling on some occasions 

 when it has been falling heavily. This statement is, of course, 

 not intended to imply that the southerly may not be modified by 

 the existence of such conditions upon the immediate scene of its 

 action. Still, despite any modification which may take place, the 

 wind attains a by no means inconsiderable velocity, some storms 

 recording as high a rate as forty miles per hour. Moreover the 

 rain generally ceases and a period of fine weather follows, proving 



RAINFALL FROM NORTHERLY WIND 



conclusively that, in these particular instances, at all events, the 

 rainfall which takes place on the arrival of the burster is the pre- 

 cipitation from the moist northerly current, and not from the 

 southerly one. Bursters have also been recorded when the local 

 maximum thermometer has registered little over 74 in a mid- 

 summer month, and effecting a diurnal range of only four degrees. 

 At such times the temperatures in the interior are always high, 

 especially to the north-west of New South Wales and in south- 

 west Queensland. 



BURSTERS DESIRABLE. 



Though the individuality of the burster is, in itself, opposed to 

 rainfall, yet the frequent recurrence of this phenomenon is to be 

 desired to cool the atmosphere, and its frequency indicates that 

 the cyclonic systems in the north-east, and the anticyclonic systems 

 in the south have less than the average energy ; also in the early 

 part of the year it denotes the failure of the monsoonal rains. 



I 



SEVERE DROUGHT COINCIDENT WITH THEIR ABSENCE. 



For instance, their absence was very marked during the severe 

 drought in the summer of 1875-76. In seasons when southerlies 

 are rare the loss of the interval of cool weather adds to the severity 

 of the summer. 



