•:214 A. G. Howard. — The Winter Storms of S. Afinca, [Sept. 28, 



return equatorial current at a level of 3,000 feet above the sea. I 

 promised to speak more on this subject and I may as well introduce it 

 here before concluding. You will remember I said that when the 

 ■ contour of a country was gradual the atmospheric currents did not 

 flow round bat up it. It is thus with the backbone of the Cape 

 Peninsula. From Cape Point the slope is gradual to the high table 

 land behind Simon's Town. From there it is comparatively level 

 (with the exception of the slight depression at Noord-Hoek) right on 

 to the Constantia and Muizenberg range. From Hout Bay the slope 

 is gradual up to the back of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles 

 range. 



Thus when a south wind blows round this end of the Cape Colony, 

 the wind instead of flowing round the Cape Peninsula is carried up 

 the sloping backbone before mentioned and impinges into the lower 

 portion of the return current. 



Now as this return current is warm and charged with moisture, the 



cold dry southerly current rushing into it condenses the moisture into 



the heavy cumulo-stratus cloud which we commonly called the Table 



Cloth. 



As the wind whirls over the cliflPs of Table Mountain it once more 



reaches the lower and colder stratum ; the particles of cloud mean- 

 while having a propulsive and upward tendency are soon dissipated, 

 the general appearance being that of a cloud constantly being formed 

 and as constantly disappearing, a phenomenon familiar to us all. This 

 is briefly the cause of the south-east cloud. 



When the high pressure belt is further to the south and the return 

 current exists above Table Mountain, or else when the general 

 currents are southerly, no cloud can form, We have then what is 

 commonly called a blind south-easter. 



A black south-easter is not a south-easter at all but a south-wester, 

 and is generally the following wind of a winter depression. 



There is still one investigation which would be very beneficial to 



. che study of the tracks of winter storms, and that is, the annual 



position of the South Atlantic anticyclone. The position of this has 



^x, great influence on the direction from which the storms come to 



'the Colony, and as this direction affects the rainfall, it will be seen 



'how important it would be to be able to tell exactly for a year or two 



in advance, from which direction the storms would come upon us. 



I have no doubt that when this is investigated it will be found to 

 have a cycle agreeing with the sun spot period of about eleven years. 



