1916.] THE BAILIWICK RAINFALL. 321 



projected in the N.W. sky loomed black and sombre in the 

 moonlight. 



I have spoken of the excessive mildness of New Year's 

 Day, and in my Weather Diary, under the date of April 25th, 

 occurs the following note : " To-day's mean temperature 

 (52'6 deg.) is interesting. It makes this, to date, the warmest 

 day of the year, an honour claimed, up to yesterday, by 

 January 1st, which had a mean of 52*5 deg." As a matter of 

 fact April had only four days warmer than New Year's Day, 

 and notwithstanding that the month was normal as regards 

 its mean temperature it was actually colder than January 

 by 0*5 deg. 



April was the driest month of the year in all the islands 

 (at Sark only 0*36 in. of rain was measured) and it was the 

 first of close on five successive months of very deficient 

 rainfall, two of which, June and July, were also remarkably 

 cold. In the 21 weeks included in this long dry interval a 

 total^of only 4*21 in. of rain was measured at Les Blanches, 

 against an average of 10*26 in. At Sark the total precipita- 

 tion, 3'06 in., was considerably less, and at Alderney it was 

 4*35 in. The longest spell of weather without any rain at all 

 began on July 17th in all the islands and was of 27 days' 

 duration at Guernsey, and of 26 days at Sark and Alderney. 

 At Guernsey (Les Blanches) for 49 days (from July 7th to 

 August 24th), at Sark for 52 days (from July 7th to August 

 27th), and at Alderney for 47 days (from July 7th to August 

 22nd), the total rainfall at each station did not average 

 more than one hundredth of an inch per day. At Guernsey 

 and Sark the average was actually below this figure. 



Of the July-August droughts as experienced at Guernsey 

 I should like to say a word. The " absolute " drought of 27 

 days was the longest rainless spell at Les Blanches since 1908, 

 in which year one of similar length occurred and at just the 

 same time of the summer. The " partial " drought of 49 

 days is the longest of the kind registered at Les Blanches in 

 the 23 years 1894-1916. 



A temporary but important break in the weather occurred 

 at the end of August. In two days 2*1P in. of rain fell at Les 

 Blanches, 1*23 in. at Sark, and 1*59 in. at Alderney. Follow- 

 ing upon all the previous weeks and months of great deficiency 

 this rain was most welcome, the more especially as September 

 proved dry until well into the fourth week, when a sharp 

 thunderstorm passed over the Bailiwick and gave the heaviest 

 rainfall of the year at the three stations. This was on the 

 26th, and the amounts collected by the gauges were : Guern- 



