1870.] Rainfall in England. 469 



land, Merionethshire, Westmoreland, Montgomeryshire, Carnarvon- 

 shire, Cardiganshire, Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, Monmouthshire, 

 Glamorganshire, Caermarthenshire, Lancashire, Devonshire, Breck- 

 nockshire, Radnorshire, Anglesea, Derbyshire, and Somersetshire — 

 those, in short, which, with the exception of Cheshire, Denbighshire, 

 and Flintshire, form our western coast from the Solway to the Land's 

 End, including the Bristol Channel to the eastern margins of Mon- 

 mouth and Somerset shires, together with the inland mountain 

 counties of Montgomery, Brecknock, Radnor, and Derby. Obviously 

 our rains come from the west and south-west ; high lands have a 

 greater rainfall than those which are low ; and, as a corollary, dis- 

 tricts having loftier lands between them and the Atlantic must receive 

 less rain than those not thus sheltered, — a truth well illustrated by 

 the comparative dryness of Cheshire, Denbigh, and Flint shires, 

 which lie on the dry side of Carnarvonshire, Anglesea, and Ireland. 



In the provisional language of meteorologists, those days are 

 termed "wet " on which not less than '01 inch of rain falls in the 

 twenty-four hours. During the four years already mentioned, the 

 greatest number of wet days recorded in one year at any station was 

 315 in 1866, at Patter dale Hall, in Westmoreland; and the least 

 number was 77 days at Beeston Lock, Nottinghamshire, in 1868. 

 The greatest county annual average for the same period was 

 207 days in Merionethshire, the least 137 days in Bedfordshire, 

 whilst for the entire kingdom it was 169 days : the three numbers 

 being as 122 : 81:100. 



In twenty-two counties the general average number was ex- 

 ceeded, whilst it was not reached in twenty-eight ; the former group 

 included all the counties of excessive rainfall, with the exception of 

 those of Brecknock and Pembroke. 



From what has been stated above, it appears that the county 

 of greatest average rainfall was not that of the greatest average 

 number of wet days, and that the difference between the rainfall 

 extremes was greater than that between those of the number of wet 

 days, it being 132 per cent, in the former, but no more than 41 per 

 cent, in the latter case. In other words, though a great annual 

 rainfall, and a great number of wet days may be said to go together, 

 the former, instead of depending entirely on the latter, depends also 

 on the average wet-day rate of rain. 



Cumberland, as we have seen, received, on the average, 68*91 

 inches of rain on 192 days per year ; hence its average wet-day rate 

 of rainfall was ■ 36 inch (=68*91 — 192), and this was the maximum. 

 The minimum was that of Cambridgeshire, amounting to no more 

 than '15 inch; whilst the average for England and Wales, as a 

 whole, was '22 inch; the three numbers varying as 164:68:100. 



Fourteen counties, all of them having excessive rainfalls, ex- 

 ceeded the general average wet-day rate. 



