11)21 j 241 



XIV. NOTES ON THE PROBABLE CLIMATE OF A 

 MOUNTAIN STATION IN THE MALAY STATES. 



By C. E. p. Brooks, m.sc, Air Ministry. 



1. Temperature. 



The heat of tropical regions is proverbial, but they 

 are characterised rather by constant heat than by unusually 

 high temperatures. Taking Singapore as an example, and 

 comparing it with Richmond, Surrey, we have the following 

 little table :— 



Temperature. Singapore. Richmond. 



"F. °F. 



Mean annual 

 Hottest month 

 Coldest month 

 Annual range 

 Mean daily maxinunn 

 Mean daily minimum 

 Highest recorded 

 Lowest recorded 

 Absolute range 



Average difTerence between mean tem- 

 I)erature of one day and the next . . 



This table shows us at once the characteristics of an 

 etiuatorial coast station as comi)ared witii London : 



(1) The mean annual temperature is about 30 degrees 

 higher. On all tropical coasts and islands the mean 

 temperature at sea level stays very close to 80° F., a round 

 number which is very convenient to remember. 



(2) The annual variation is exceedingly small, being 

 only 2° F. at Singapore. At stations so close to the equator 

 (the latitude is only P 17' N.) it is more oi less of an 

 accident which months are the warmest. There is no 

 distinction of seasons by temperature as there is in England, 

 the terms " winter," *' spring," etc., having n'^* meaning. 

 The sun is overhead at the equinoxes, i.e., March and 

 September, but the difference from other months is not 

 great enough to be im]K)rtant. 



(3) The daily range, or the difference between the 

 temperature of the day and that of the night, is very nearly 

 the same at Singapore and London, but even here there 

 is a difference. In the tropics the day is alMays hotter than 

 the night by about the same amount, and the alternation 

 of higher and lower temperatures every 24 hours is as 

 regular as is the alternation of summer and winter in 

 temperate regions. In fact it has been said that " night 

 is the winter of the tropics." In England on the other 

 hand, though the day is generally warmer than the night, 

 it sometimes happens, especiallj'^ in winter, that the tem- 

 perature rises as night comes on, so that the night is 

 warmer than the day. In the tropics this never happens. 



