NOTES ON THE RAINFALL AT SARK AND 

 ALDERNEY DURING THE YEAR 191.1.* 



BY BASIL T. ROWSWELL. 



In the matter of weather the year 1911 will be memorable 

 because of more than one unexpected development. In a 

 sense it was a year of surprises— some pleasant, others 

 unpleasant. 



For instance, after a mild winter, and when the season 

 being so far advanced (according to the calendar), any possi- 

 bility of damaging cold occurring seemed altogether impos- 

 sible, we were visited by a burst of wintry weather of 

 extraordinary severity for the time of year. This was in the 

 early days of April when blizzard-like snowstorms swept over 

 the Bailiwick and blocked many of the country roads in all the 

 islands, while frosts of mid-winter intensity gripped the land on 

 several days. It was a splendid illustration of the well-known 

 proverb which has it that April, normally a genial period, 

 can, upon occasion, provide weather as severe as or even worse 

 than any experienced in the winter months proper. 



Then followed one of the most perfect summers as 

 regards heat and dry sunny weather that anyone could 

 possibly wish for. We had been treated to so many unsea- 

 sonable summers — cold, gloomy and wet — in recent years, 

 that we were not in any way prepared for such a delightful 

 time as the summer of 1911 had in store for us. It took us as 

 much by surprise, but of course in a pleasantly different way, 

 as did the terrible if short-lived cold snap in April. New 

 records for heat and drought were established at many places 

 in England, and the wonderful period did not pass away 

 without leaving its mark on Channel Island weather. 



A great heat blast on Friday, September 8th, made that 

 day, both as regards maximum temperature (88*6 deg.) and 

 mean (74*6 deg.) the hottest day at Les Blanches since 

 observations were begun in January, 1894. July, August and 

 September also, the three months covered by the hot and dry 



* The references in these Notes to the Rainfall Station at Les Blanches are 

 included for the sake of comparing the Sark and Alderney figures with those at a 

 Guernsey Station.— B. T. R. 



[1911.] 



