1889.] Address. 03 



almost unprecedented in South Bengal. The South-TVest monsoon was 

 also characterised throughout by great variations. But fortunately the 

 total distribution of the rains has been such as to avert the famine 

 threatened by prolonged partial drought on more than one occasion in 

 several districts, more especially in Orissa. The experience of the past 

 year, however, tends to confirm the general conclusion of the meteorology 

 of the past 22 years in India, viz., that the greatest irregularities and 

 abnormal deviations in the weather over India occur at the minimum 

 sun-spot period or at (according to Lockyer) the period of least activity 

 in the solar photosphere. 



It may be noted that these abnormal features of the weather have 

 not been confined to India ; the summer months in Europe were unusual- 

 ly cold and wet, and marked by snowstorms and floods. In America 

 also, remarkable blizzards occurred in the months of January and March, 

 over the States of Dakota and New York, which caused great destruction 

 of property and loss of life to man and beast, owing to the intense cold 

 and violence of the wind. In Australia the hot months have been marked 

 by great drought. 



Several improvements have been made during the year in the 

 methods of preparing and issuing the daily weather-charts and storm- 

 warnings. The hour for recording the observations daily transmitted 

 by weather- telegram to Simla, Calcutta and Bombay has been changed 

 from 10 A. M. to 8 A. M., which is more in conformity with European 

 practice. The telegraph lines being most free from traffic between 

 8 and 10 A. M., the weather messages are now forwarded without delay 

 and the daily reports can be issued several hours earlier than in previous 

 years. The Calcutta daily Report and Chart can thus be issued at about 

 11a. m., or at the beginning of the office day instead of at the end of it ; 

 thus practically securing the gain of a day. The Simla daily Report is 

 also issued from 12 to 24 hours earlier, and delays are now mainly due 

 to the great distance between many of the Observatories and the Telegraph 

 offices. In future this will be remedied as far as possible by establishing 

 all new Observatories at Telegraph offices. This will not only facilitate 

 the telegraphic communication of observations, but in many cases pro- 

 vide observers of greater intelligence than would be otherwise obtainable. 

 Satisfactory arrangements for the warning of the Burmah and 

 Madras Ports of the occurrence of cyclones and cyclonic storms were 

 effected and sanctioned in the beginning of the year. The duty of 

 warning all ports on the Bay of Bengal Coast is assigned to the 

 Meteorological Reporter to the Government of Bengal. Au unusually 

 large number of cyclonic storms, one or two of which were of a 

 very exceptional character, occurred during the pasl year, but in every 



