94 



RAINFALL TN DORSET. 



APPENDIX. 



RAINFALL CONSTANTS AT 104 STATIONS IN DORSET, DEDUCED 

 FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN BETWEEN 1848 AND 1897. 



Since the publication of " Dorset Annual Rainfall, 1848-92," 

 in Vol. XVI. of the " Proceedings," the steady growth in the 

 number of observers and stations has rendered it both desirable 

 and possible to define the distribution of the rainfall of the 

 county with greater precision than was then attempted. With 

 the additional information gathered in the interval the earlier 

 observations have been incorporated and discussed anew. And 

 a few of the returns, open to suspicion from the first, have been 

 rejected, having proved to be inaccurate on further examination. 



A notice of the monthly rainfall at West Lodge, Iwerne 

 Minster, gleaned from the Dorset County Chronicle, amounting 

 to 24"o8in. for 1854, supports the belief that this year was much 

 the driest of the half-century. The same periodical gives the 

 rainfall for 1853 as 36'57in., not 36'ooin. as previously stated, 

 which latter includes only part of the month of December. 

 Changes such as these, though small, have an important bearing 

 on the results when the data are so scanty as they are for the 

 earlier years. In this case they shew that the rainfall at Iwerne 

 Minster was under-estimated, and that 1872 was probably slightly 

 wetter than 1852, hitherto reckoned the most rainy year. 



The returns supplemental to the old series are Langton 

 Herring for the four years, 1875-8, 36*28^., 37*87111., 36-24111., 

 28'6oin. ; Seaborough Court, formerly in Somerset, for the nine 

 years, 1874-82, 36-46111., 44-38111., 44-84111., 44-18111., 37-98^1., 

 38-72111., 35-15111., 38-99111., 44-37111. Coming to more recent 

 years, the rainfall at Broadwey from 1894-7, which has not 

 appeared in the annual reports like the returns from other 

 stations, was 40-49111., 31-62111., 27-33111., 37-02111. On the other 

 hand the interpolations for Osmington in 1891-2 have been 

 discarded ; also the Haselbury Bryan register from 1888-92 

 inclusive, and the whole of the Wimborne series, 1875-9, 1882, 



