112 Star anfr TOeatber Gossip 



shaggy little pony, and " Billy " slunk disconsolately 

 away. The fellow, seeing her go, hissed after her the 

 one scornful word, " Sparrers ! " 



RAIN FROM THE SOUTH-EAST 



Having referred to a belief held by many Londoners 

 that it never rains in the capital without it raining at 

 Brighton, and having stated that I should have thought 

 that the likelihood of rain falling simultaneously would 

 have been greater to the north than to the south of 

 London, I am told by Mr. G. W. B. Macturk, C.E., of 

 Hull, that he has frequently heard it said in the East 

 Riding of Yorkshire that when bad weather occurs in 

 London the East Biding gets it a day or two after- 

 wards. Mr. Macturk shows that most of the rain in 

 the East Riding comes from the south-west, but does 

 not think that the less frequent south-east rains are 

 so easily accounted for. These rains frequently start 

 from the south-east after a long spell of dry weather. 



May not those south-east rains in East Yorkshire be 

 explained by the interaction of two air currents ? 

 Let us see how it works out by taking a specimen 

 cyclone whose eastward or nor'-eastward track lies 

 right across Yorkshire and the North Sea to Denmark. 

 The cyclonic area is divided into, say, two equal parts, 

 with the northern boundary in the Highlands of Scot- 

 land, and the southern in the English Channel. The 

 centre is off the coast of Wales. Now, it will be found 

 that the wind in the south-east quadrant (moving 

 counter-clockwise, according to rule) is a south-west 

 wind, and that it is warm and laden with moisture. It 

 sweeps up, then, from the sou'-west until it reaches a 



