1884.] Himalaya Snoicfall with Drought in India. 13 



humidity of the air at Chakatra on the 19th and 20th, at 10 A.M., 

 being only 8 per cent, of saturation (according to the telegraphic 

 report), or 45 per cent, below the general average of the month of 

 May. Great heat and dryness prevailed also with the westerly winds 

 over the whole of extra- tropical India, with the exception of Bengal 

 and Assam. 



In Ladak, however, very bad weather set in in the beginning of 

 May, and lasted nearly a month. This thickened the snows, and for 

 a time brought the snow-line down to about the ordinary March level. 

 In the last week in May the weather again became clouded over 

 Northern India and the outer Himalaya ; the temperature fell, and on 

 the 28th and 29th another heavy fall of snow took place on the 

 mountains, whitening their sides down to 10,000 or 11,000 feet. 



In was under these circumstances that the following notes were 

 published in the "Gazette of India" (2nd June). The first was 

 written on the 18th May, when the dryness of the air was about at 

 its maximum, and a day or two before the change set in that culmi- 

 nated in the snowfall of the 28th and 29th May. The second was 

 written on the 31st May, immediately after the fall. 



I. " That the unusually dry weather now prevailing over the 

 North -Western Himalaya, and that which, though less abnormal, 

 characterises the whole of North- Western India at the present time, 

 is an effect of the unusual accumulation of snow, is a conclusion 

 justified by the experience of the last few years ; and were it not that 

 the snow is rapidly decreasing under the unobstructed radiation of 

 the sun, there might be some reason, judging from the present 

 limited experience, to anticipate some retardation of the rains in the 

 upper provinces, and possibly even in Western India generally. But, 

 on the other hand, the fact that during the months of April and May 

 the atmospheric pressure over the greater part of the country has 

 been below the normal average of the season, is one which .... 

 portends favourably for the timely influx of the monsoon. In Bengal 

 it may be said the prospects are wholly favourable." 



II. " Since the above was written there has been heavy rain for 

 many days on the outer hills, and more or less on the plains of 

 the Punjab, and apparently a very heavy fall of snow on the higher 

 ranges .... If, therefore, the mountains of Lahoul, Spiti, and 

 other more distant ranges have shared this fall, if it is as extensive as 

 it is apparently heavy on the visible ranges, and if the views which 

 the experience of recent years seem to justify, viz., that an unusual 

 extent and thickness of snow on the Himalaya is productive of dry 

 north-west and west winds in North-Western India are valid, we 

 must be prepared for a long spell of dry weather and a retarded rain- 

 fall in the upper provinces." 



June was a very dry month in the upper provinces and Rajpu- 



