544 llAINFALL AT SARK, IIERM AND ALDERNEY. 



Sark is holding its own — this year to a strikino^ degree — 

 as the driest of the tln-ee islands, followed by Herm, and 

 lastly by Alderney the rainfall of which seems to compare 

 more favourably Avith that of (xiiernsey. Alderney ai)i)ears to 

 come in for occnsional heavy downpours which Sark es(!apes ; 

 at any rate such seems to have })een the case in 1908 when 

 Alderney had six rainfalls exceeding half-an-inch, while Sark 

 had one such heavy fall only. In 1906 Alderney had fifteen 

 half-inch down])ours against ten at Sark. In 1907, however, 

 the figures Avere more equal, viz. Alderney seven, Sark six. 



As usual the year 1908 throughout shows variations in 

 the amount of the daily falls as measured at the different 

 stations, ])ut the Avet and dry spells are in close agreement. 



The great snowstorm early on the Saturday in Kaster 



Aveek, April 2r)th, the day of the Southampton blizzard and tlu; 



wreck of the cruiser Gladiator in the vSolent, Avas much more 



severely felt at Alderney than in the other islands of the 



Bailiwick. As seen from the high land of Guernsey at 10 a.m. 



on April 2r)th Alderney looked like a distant range of snoAV- 



covered momitains. That the island had been visited by an 



unusually heavy snow-storm during the night Avas clear, and 



Mr. Picot's rainfall (;ard Avas anticii)ated with moi-e than 



ordinary interest. Its receipt early in the following Aveek 



brought ncAvs that the island Avas uniformly covered that 



morning Avith from 12 to 13 inches of snow ! and that the 



visitation Avas looked upon as the worst of its kind since 1837. 



In confirmation of the depth of suoav as given ])y the foot rule 



the gauge at Le Huret contained 1*04 in. (just over one inch) 



of Avater. All out-door Avork Avas reported as stopped except 



that of clearing away the snow while the island itself, as 



reported in the newpapers, had the a])pearance of a Canadian 



Avinter scene. In the other islands, Avhere the snow thawed 



soon after falling and the storm itself Avas slighter, the rain 



fall measurements at 9 a.m. were as below : 



o TT A Guernsey, 



Sark. Herm. Alderney. t oi i 



Ijcs Blanches. 



in. in. in. in. 



0.29 0-65 1-04 0-48 



At Sark, as Avill be noticed, the doAvnfall Avas slightest, 

 Capt. Henry only measuring a trifle over a quarter of an inch. 

 AtAlderney snow squalls continued falling throughout the day 

 and so heavily that an additional 0*41 in. (nearly half an inch) 

 of water Avas collected by Mr. Picot on the Sunday morning. 

 The other islands, including Guernsey, as good as escaped 

 these latter shoAvers altogether. 



