394 



BAILIWICK RAINFALL. 



rainfall observations were commenced by Capt. Henry in 

 January, 1906, and, with September, 1910, which had a 

 similar rainfall, it was also the driest month recorded by Mr. 

 Picot, at Alderney. At Guernsey (Les Blanches) it proved 

 to be the driest April of the last 19 years. At Sark no rain 

 at all fell after the 9th, and at Alderney and Guernsey (Les 

 Blanches) after the 10th. As the dry interval included more 

 than 14 consecutive days a drought in the technical sense of 

 the word was experienced. A tabulated statement of the 

 year's droughts, &c, is given at the end of this paper. 



The dry weather continued all through May, but was 

 much less pronounced than in April, occasional showers falling 

 in all the islands sufficiently heavy to refresh the surface of 

 the ground. A report from Sark in the second week ran : 

 " A little rain fell on Tuesday (the 7th) but only enough to 

 moisten the surface of the ground. Crops are already 

 suffering from the long drought." Guernsey was blessed with 

 a thunderstorm during the early night of the llth which gave 

 a very welcome rainfall of 0*26 in. at Les Blanches. Both 

 Sark and Alderney managed to escape the shower ! May was 

 a very warm month, especially in the first half. As a whole 

 it proved to be the warmest month of the name at Guernsey 

 (Les Blanches) of the 19 years 1894-1912. 



And now began the wretchedly cold and very wet summer 

 of 1912 — a summer that will be as memorable for its remark- 

 able unseasonableness as that of 1911 was for the glorious 

 sunshine and warmth enjoyed. The change set in immediately 

 with the advent of June in the first w r eek of which the whole 

 of the Channel Islands were deluged with rain from passing 

 Atlantic depressions. The rainfall on some of these days was 

 so very variable at the several stations it has been thought 

 worth while to give a table of the daily measurements, includ- 

 ing that registered at St. Aubin's, Jersey, and at Portland 

 Bill, near Weymouth, just across the Channel : — 



PORTLAND. ALDERNEY. GUERNSEY. SARK. JERSEY. 



in. in. in. in. in: 



June 1 0-10 ... 0-14 ... 0*43 ... 0'84 ... 0*95 



„ 2 0-02 ... 0-13 ... 1-05 ... 0-75 ... 0*64 



„ 3 0-30 ... 0-14 ... 0-16 ... 0-12 ... 0'14 



„ 4 0-24 ... 0-32 ... 0-32 ... 0*25 ... 0*41 



„ 5 — ... 0-51 ... 0-79 ... 0-65 ... 0'83 



„ 6 0-01 ... 0-55 ... 0-24 ... 0*60 ... 0*62 



„ 7 0-74 ... 0-06 ... 0-05 ... 0*04 ... 0*19 



Totals 1-41 ... P85 ... 3-04 ... 3*25 ... 3*78 



