320 THE BAILIWICK RAINFALL. 



The intensity of the cold spell may be gauged by the 

 following figures which give the mean temperature of each of 

 the three weeks included with the departure from the normal 

 of 1894-1913 :— 



Date. Mean. Normal. Difference, 



deg. deg. deg. 



Feb. 20-26 37*4 43'2 - 5*8 



Feb. 27-Mar. 4 38*2 43*2 - 5-0 



March. 5-11 37'5 44'2 - 6*7 



February is not, normally, one of the wet months of the 



year, but it was so in 1916. At Guernsey (Les Blanches) it 



was not only the wettest month of the twelve, it was the 



wettest February of the 23 years, 1894-1916. At Sark and 



Alderney also it was the rainiest month of the name for at 



least 11 years, that is since 1906, further back than which 



the records do not extend. The total deposit at the three 



stations is worthy of note. 



Les Blanches. Sark. Aldekney. 



in. in. in. 



Feb., 1916 6-33 (normal 2-33) 4*53 5*80 



Towards the end of March, during the evening and night 

 of the 27th, a most violent storm of wind from S.W. at first, 

 then from W., swept the island. Great damage was done to 

 greenhouse and other property in all directions and many 

 trees were uprooted. At St. Martin's, at Le Vallon alone, 

 several fine trees succumbed to the terrific gale. The depres- 

 sion responsible for the storm sent our barometer down to 

 28*9 in. This is how an English newspaper wrote of one of 

 the effects of the tornado in England : — ■ 



" The track of the recent storm has strewn the fields with 

 firewood for the countryside that will last a couple of winters. 

 Cottage backyards are choked with " kindling " and " chunks," 

 and what is to be done with the giants sprawling over every 

 demesne and meadow, and lying like drunken ogres where they 

 reeled in ditch and roadway, nobody seems quite to know. 

 Two hundred on one estate, monsters all, a hundred on another, 

 in eighties, sixties, forties, they lie as they were machine-gunned 

 by the advancing blizzard. Hedgerows that had laboured for 

 generations to bring up and support its row of planted elms 

 now grin like tooth-ridden hags." 



By a very fortunate chance I had the good luck to see 

 the formation of a fine lunar rainbow at 0*10 a.m. on April 

 20th. Lunar bows are of rare occurrence and those especially 

 which show the prismatic colours. This one did so and made 

 a charming picture. Owing to the low altitude of the moon 

 in the S.E. sky (our satellite was two days past the full) the 

 bow was of large size, and the cloud mass against which it was 



