162 C. Little — The Himalayan summer storm of Sept. 24th, 1903, [No. 4, 



warnings and forecasts, of impending weather among the objects 

 of the national systems of weather report." 

 *'In India storm warnings also have an importance, but it is chiefly 

 local and restricted to certain seasons of the year : and other 

 and more comprehensive problems force themselves on our atten- 

 tion and await their solution at our hands. Foremost amonsr 

 these are all questions bearing on the vicissitudes of the rain- 

 fall." 

 After pointing out that seasons of drought are due to the persis- 

 tence of certain winds, the report continues : — 



" The experience of recent years indicates that a season in which 

 the pressure of the higher atmospheric strata is excessive is one 

 in which the land winds are unduly prevalent ; and by a process 

 of exhaustive reasoning, supported by occasional observation, I 

 have been led to infer that, except at certain times in the cold 

 season, the higher strata of the atmosphere lying over the moun- 

 tain zone around North-Western and Western India, are the 

 principal and immediate source of these winds." 

 " It would be out of place to enter here on an exposition of 

 the reasons which have led me to this view ; and it is my inten- 

 tion to give them in another place. Moreover, systematic obser- 

 vation of a kind which we can hardly expect from the class of 

 men, who furnish the registers of our observatories, is yet re- 

 quired to confirm its accuracy. What is more especially re- 

 quired now, is a knowledge of the prevailing movements of the 

 higher atmospheric strata, as indicated by those of the clouds 

 characteristic of great elevations ; and this requires watchfulness 

 and judgment only to be expected of edacated observers who 

 take an intelligent interest in the conduct of the observations. 

 Such persons are at present extremely rare in India." 

 Later at page 69 of the same report the following important 

 opinion is recorded : " The main fact which is thus becoming more and 

 more jBrmly established, as each successive year furnishes its additional 

 mead of evidence, is that the character of the Indian weather is in a 

 large measure determined by the barometric condition of the higher 

 atmospheric strata." 



In the annual report for 1883 (a year of crop failure) Mr. Blanford 

 says : — 



"It has been shown in former reports, more especially that for 

 1878, that years of severe and prolonged drought have been 

 those in which the pressure of the atmosphere has been unduly 

 high, and there is in all probability a direct connection between 



