310 INDIAN METEOROLOGY. 



all persons interested in the subject. These reforms are 

 now under the consideration of the Government. 



A seasonal forecast, based partly on information of the snowfall 

 in the mountain districts of Northern India during the previous 

 cold weather months, and partly in the distribution of pressure in 

 April and May, was prepared by Mr. Eliot, and published in the 

 " Gazette of India " on the 13th of June. The main conclusions 

 regarding the south-west monsoon of 1889 were as follows : — 



(1.) The weather conditions in May over the land area, and the 

 character of the cold weather snowfall were both favour- 

 able to the probable occurrence of an early and strong 

 monsoon. 

 (2.) Conditions were unusually favourable for heavier rain than 

 usual over the Avhole of North-East India, including 

 Burma, Assam, Bengal, Behar, and the greater part of the 

 North- Western Provinces. 

 (3.) The conditions in the Peninsula were, on the whole, favour- 

 able, and hence it was probable that the Bombay monsoon 

 current would be at least of normal strength, and give 

 normal rainfall over the Peninsula generally. 

 (4.) The conditions in Upper India, and more especially the 



Punjab, were more or less unfavourable ; and 

 (5.) So far as could be judged from the observation it was, on the 

 whole, probable that Ganjam and the Northern Circars 

 would receive at least normal rainfall. 

 A comparison of the statements of actual rainfall results with 

 the forecast shows a very fair agreement. In fact, with the 

 exception of Burma and Bengal, where the rainfall was normal 

 or very slightly in defect, and in the North- West Provinces where 

 it was considerably in excess, the forecast was fully verified. 



The Bay of Bengal Storm-Warning Service was satisfactorily 

 performed during the year, cautionary telegrams being despatched 

 in good time in every case. Ample warning was also gis^en from 

 Simla to the west coast ports under the new arrangements for the 

 Bombay Storm Signal Service. In the Bay of Bengal one of 

 the most pressing needs in connexion with storm-warnings is the 

 question of telegraphic communication with Port Blair, in the 

 Andaman Islands. Not only are the largest and most intense 

 cyclones generated in the centre of the Bay near the Andamans, but 

 the proximity of the ports of Bassein, Moulmein, and Kangoon to 

 this cradle of storms, and their distance from Calcutta from 

 which point, nevertheless, they have to be warned, has induced 



