138 RAINFALL AT S ARK, HERM AND ALDERNEY. 



Unusually big as was the downpour at Alderney on 

 September 10th, that island was destined to record a still 

 heavier fall on November loth— the heaviest daily fall in 

 fact registered by Mr. Picot during the four years he has had 

 charge of the station. And, again, the visitation was peculiar 

 to Alderney, for whereas the amount for that day was 0*41 in. 

 at Sark and 0*54 in. at Les Blanches (Guernsey), Alderney 

 had 1*55 in., and the report ran: — 4 * There is no mistake. 

 The rainfall that day and night was so exceptional here 

 (Alderney) that old folks aver never having seen such . . . 

 Rain came down continuously, at times as if by a waterspout." 

 November, on the whole, was not at all a disagreeable month, 

 considerable dry intervals, for the season, were enjoyed in all 

 the islands, and owing to the prevalence o£ Easterly and 

 Northerly winds, temperature ranged low. 



December began with very boisterous weather. Several 

 deep depressions passed and a lot of rain fell during the first 

 week. At Alderney " a heavy thunderstorm with much 

 lightning and rain passed over " on the evening of the 3rd, and 

 at night on the 6th electrical disturbance was again noted. 

 The week's rainfall amounted to : — Sark, 2*10 in. ; Alderney, 

 2*42 in. ; Les Blanches (Guernsey), 2*28 in. No settled 

 weather occurred during December, while the middle of the 

 month was cold and frosty. Alderney reported a fall of wet 

 snow on the loth, and on the 20th, " hard frost and ice." 

 The 20th was a cold day, too, at Guernsey — indeed frost held 

 the whole time in the shade and a minimum temperature of 

 30*6 deg. was recorded by the screened instrument at Les 

 Blanches. 



Mention has been made of the fact that Sark is proving 

 itself a decidedly drier island than either Alderney or 

 Guernsey. Leaving Guernsey out of the discussion in the 

 present Report, the average difference between Sark and 

 Alderney for the four years 1906—1909 is 4*40 in. In 1906 

 and 1907 the actual difference was 2*56 and 2*69 in. respect- 

 ively ; in 1908 it increased to 5*51 in. and last year was no 

 less than 6*86 in. Last year's big difference is in part at any 

 rate accounted for by the two exceptionally heavy downpours 

 of September and November, both of which Sark may be 

 said to have missed altogether. 



