1913.] BAILIWICK RAINFALL. 73 



nature. He wrote : " At first many thought it was their own 



smutty roofs washed out that caused their black cistern-water. 



But no, it was black everywhere, away in fields, road puddles, 



common-ponds, far from chimneys or roofs." 



In a newspaper report of the phenomenon the following 



occurred : 



" One observer noticed a dark mass of cloud over the island, but the 

 surrounding sky was remarkably clear. . . . The shoots and gutters 

 of the houses would not carry off the water, and consequently it deluged 

 rooms and damaged furniture in many instances. The water, rushing 

 down the hilly roads, tore trenches that in places were some feet in 

 depth. At low levels kitchens and basements were flooded." 



A Guernseyman who happened to be in Alderney at the 

 time said that for some ten minutes the rain poured off the 

 roof of the house he was staying at like a miniature Niagara 

 Falls, through which it was impossible to see anything. He 

 also confirmed Mr. Picot's observations as to the black nature 

 of the rain. 



October gave some heavy rainfalls, and, except for rather 

 more than a week of almost rainless weather in the middle of 

 the month, was generally unsettled and mild. In the last 

 week temperature was very high for the time of year, and, as 

 a whole it was the third warmest October of the 20 years 

 1894-1913 at Les Blanches. 



A thunderstorm, of moderate intensity at Guernsey, but 

 which lasted some six hours, occurred in all the islands during 

 the night from the 1st to the 2nd of October. At Guernsey 

 it gave a heavy rainfall — at Les Blanches of 0*95 in., and on 

 the roof of the Guille-Alles Library 1*36 in. At Sark the 

 amount was only 0*22 in., and at Alderney 0*26 in. During 

 the prevalence of this storm the flagstaff at the Casquets 

 lighthouse was struck by the electric fluid and split in two. 



Another thunderstorm broke over Alderney on the night 

 of the 6th and gave 0*73 in. of rain at Le Huret. No storm 

 occurred either at Guernsey or Sark, but heavy rain fell in 

 both islands, as much as 0*77 in. at Guernsey (Les Blanches) 

 and 0*88 in. at Sark. 



The 20th and 21st were very wet days, the total for the 

 two days being: Guernsey (Les Blanches), 1*50 in; Sark, 

 1*15 in. ; Alderney, 1*45 in. 



At 4 p.m. on the 28th a magnificent double rainbow was 

 seen at Guernsey. Both the primary and secondary bow were 

 complete throughout the arc and remained visible in this 

 perfect form for some minutes. The rainbow Avas of a bril- 

 liance rarely seen and owing to the low altitude of the sun 

 was of majestic size. That same day, shortly after noon, 



