328 



NOTES OX THE RAINFALL. 



28'2 deg. ! The islands on this day were literally buried 

 in snow drifts and bound fast in the iron grip of a severe 

 frost. 



Writing from Sark a correspondent to the Evening Press 

 said : 44 On Wednesday the 5th, snow fell during the day. 

 Towards evening it began to freeze. In the night snow fell 

 continually, making it several inches deep. In places where 

 the snow had been driven by the wind there was a depth 

 of thirty inches. On Thursday the snowstorm continued, 



some very heavy showers falling during the morning 



Sark had not experienced such weather for the last sixteen or 

 eighteen years. The snowstorm practically ruined the flowers 

 that were so unusually advanced." 



From Alderney the report for Wednesday, the 5th, was 

 44 great snowfall at night," and for the following day, 44 more 

 snow." 



The snowfall spread itself over three days — 4th to the 

 6th — as shown in the following Table where the amounts 

 (in water) measured in the different islands are given. It 

 will be noticed by the way that no precipitation was recorded 

 at Sark for the 4th, and that altogether much less snow fell in 

 that island than at Guernsey and Alderney. 



GUERNSEY SARK ALDERNEY 



(Les Blanches). ( Vallee du Creux) . (LeHuret). 



April 4th (Tuesday) (W3in 0'09 in. 



„ 5th (Wednesday)... 029in OlOin 0*42 in. 



„ 6th (Thursday) ... 0'18 in 0*26 in 0*15 in. 



Totals 0-60 in 0*36 in 0-66 in. 



As roughly 0*08 in. of water represents one inch of snow, 

 the total depth at Guernsey and Alderney in sheltered places 

 must have been about seven or eight inches and at Sark from 

 four to five. The drifts, however, ran into feet in all the 

 islands. 



A week of absolutely dry weather everywhere (April 

 11th to 17th) followed the cold snap, after which unsettled 

 conditions developed and the month ended wet. 



After rumbling in the distance for some time a violent 

 thunderstorm burst over Sark at mid-day on Wednesday, May 

 10th, and raged for close upon an hour accompanied by great 

 darkness and a downpour of rain and hail, the hail being of 

 abnormal size. Places were flooded by the rush of water and 

 at a farm at Le Port chickens were drowned. 44 Strange to 

 say, but a small shower fell at Little Sark, nothing to hinder 



