THE WEATHER OF THE BAILIWICK IN 1915, 

 WITH TABLE OF THE SARK AND ALDERNEY RAINFALL. 



BY BASIL T. BOWSWELL. 



INTRODUCTORY : A WORD ON RAINFALL. 



Another year of big rainfall has to be recorded, which though 

 not so heavy in the aggregate as were the excessive totals of 

 1910 and 1912, is remarkable for this, that two successive 

 years (1914 and 1915) have been unusually wet, whereas each 

 of the above mentioned years was followed by a twelvemonth 

 that departed but slightly from the normal. 



Since rainfall observations were begun at Les Blanches, 

 Guernsey, in 1894, the wettest year previous to 1910 was 1903 

 with a total of 38*20 in. The total for 1910 was over 45 in. 

 and three times already since then the amount has exceeded 

 40 inches. 



That rainfall has undoubtedly been increasing in amount 

 in recent years was pointed out in the report published in the 

 1914 Transactions. It was stated there (page 140) that the 

 normal at Les Blanches for the decade 1894-1903 was 33*95 in., 

 while for the next decade, viz., 1904-1913, it had gone up to 

 35*18 in. If we now divide the twenty-two years, 1894-1915, 

 into two series of eleven years and strike an average, the 

 result is still more surprising, for we get 34*16 in. as the 

 normal yearly fall for 1894-1904 and 36*14 in. for 1905- 

 1915. 



Taking the average for the twenty-two years as being 

 35*15 in., an examination of the series shows a much greater 

 tendency to consecutive dry than wet years. For instance 

 1898 to 1902 and again 1905 to 1909 (five years in each case) 

 were, on the above basis, periods of decided drought. The 

 latter interval, which immediately preceded the first of the 

 recent big totals, was especially dry, for its wettest year (1905) 

 only totalled 33*83 in., while i908 with 24*33 in. is the driest 

 year on record at Les Blanches. The wet years on the other 

 hand have occurred more or less sporadically as shewn by the 

 dates; 1894 (38*00 in.), 1897 (37*27 in.), 1903 (38*20 in.), 

 1904 (36*24 in.), 1910 (45*54 in.), 1912 (45*55 in.), 1914 

 (40*07 in.), 1915 (41*82 in.). No explanation can be given 

 to account for the irregularity in the swings of the rainfall 

 pendulum, but the interesting point to note is the unusually 

 big totals of the last four of the wet years quoted. 



