1884.] President's Remarks on the Winter Bains. 173 



published in the Annual Reports on the Meteorology of India clearly 

 show that in two of the above instances, viz., those of 1879, December 

 24 — 27, and 1880, January 17 — 19, the disturbances extended beyond 

 the north-western frontier of India, and the disturbance of 1883, Janu- 

 ary 24 — 25, is clearly another of the same kind. These disturbances 

 can hardly have originated in India, for they all moved eastwards. 

 Without observations from Western Afghanistan or from the Mekran 

 Coast, it is, of course, impossible to arrive at a final decision, but the 

 evidence now advanced is, I think, sufficient to render it highly probable 

 that winter barometric depressions do occasionally, if not generally, 

 enter the north-west of India. I believe too, that further investigation 

 will show that rain frequently begins on the north-western frontier and 

 afterwards extends eastwards, as in January, 1883. 



The winter rains are as well marked at Quetta as at many stations 

 in the Punjab and the North West Provinces. They are also quite 

 perceptible at Kurrachee, as was long ago pointed out by Mr. Charles 

 Chambers in his Meteorology of the Bombay Presidency. 



Mr. Blanford's theory of the origin of the winter rains would not 

 apply to these stations, unless it could be shown that the barometric 

 depressions, after originating in India, sometimes move towards the west 

 contrary to the usual rule. 



The question as to whether barometric disturbances do or do not 

 come to us from the west seems to me to be of importance chiefly with 

 regard to its bearings on the problem of the prognostication of the 

 winter rains, for, if my views are correct, it will become possible to 

 utilize the ordinary methods of storm prevision for the purpose of fore- 

 casting these rains. With regard to the origin of the winter rains, the 

 important point seems to be, that they are to be attributed to cyclonic 

 disturbances, not to the upper anti-monsoon current, and herein Mr. 

 Blanford's recent conclusion is in perfect agreement with my suggestion, 

 as it is also with respect to the eastward motion of the barometric depres- 

 sions when once formed. 



The President said : — " The greater part of Mr. Chambers' paper is 

 devoted to proving a point on which there is no dispute, viz,, that the 

 disturbances which give rise to the cold weather rainfall generally move 

 eastward. This fact is distinctly stated on page 6 of my paper in Part 

 II, No. 1 of the Journal for this year, and I need notice it no further 

 than to observe that, although generally, it is not always the case ; an 

 exceptional instance was quoted on page 7 of the paper, and another in 

 which the disturbance was stationary, occurred in November 1883, pro- 

 ducing very heavy snowfall on the Punjab Himalaya and in Cashmere. 

 " The point really at issue is, whether these disturbances originate 



