368 
LIEUT.-COLONEL SYKES’S DISCUSSION OF METEOROLOGICAL 
Winds at Madras. 
Direction of the Wind at Madras, blowing from the different quarters of the compass, 
from hourly observations. 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
N.W. 
S.W. 
S.E. 
N.E. 
N.W. 
S.W. 
S.E. 
N.E. 
N.W. 
S.W. 
S.E. 
N.E. 
N.W. 
S.W. 
S.E. 
N.E. 
N.W. 
S.W. 
S.E. 
N.E. 
Jan — 
105 
51 
80 
508 
74 
29 
92 
549 
64 
47 
193 
440 
87 
27 
196 
434 
Feb.... 
• • ♦ 
• • • 
• •• 
95 
124 
227 
229 
23 
82 
434 
133 
45 
92 
309 
249 
11 
71 
393 
197 
March 
2 
170 
372 
0 
26 
201 
276 
1 
15 
179 
527 
23 
12 
266 
449 
17 
13 
221 
477 
33 
April 
120 
471 
115 
14 
0 
307 
269 
0 
0 
230 
488 
2 
15 
236 
451 
19 
3 
380 
335 
2 
May 
57 
407 
219 
37 
56 
468 
211 
9 
73 
376 
260 
35 
67 
426 
215 
36 
73 
437 
204 
30 
June 
86 
539 
86 
9 
86 
447 
133 
30 
88 
553 
76 
3 
196 
397 
84 
43 
228 
396 
51 
45 
July... 
144 
511 
76 
13 
96 
578 
62 
13 
121 
562 
54 
7 
127 
498 
111 
8 
128 
498 
108 
10 
Aug. 
85 
352 
288 
19 
37 
487 
144 
26 
120 
494 
117 
3 
200 
411 
95 
38 
135 
472 
129 
8 
Sept. 
115 
356 
182 
43 
91 
377 
174 
76 
153 
355 
168 
44 
114 
359 
187 
60 
93 
371 
228 
28 
Oct. . . . 
265 
93 
145 
241 
101 
203 
221 
219 
194 
183 
119 
248 
171 
251 
125 
197 
83 
274 
229 
158 
Nov. 
232 
16 
58 
414 
139 
16 
34 
531 
194 
2 
11 
613 
236 
0 
51 
433 
96 
0 
66 
558 
Dec. 
219 
0 
10 
515 
157 
16 
70 
501 
207 
19 
144 
374 
246 
8 
64 
426 
149 
14 
104 
477 
Total 
... 
... 
1039 
3275 
1901 
2145 
1262 
3064 
2490 
1934 
1493 
2991 
2340 
1966 
1099 
3161 
2520 
1980 
Note. — N.W. includes the winds blowing between N. and W. points, and the same applies to the other 
quarters. 
The prevailing wind at Madras is the S.W., which wind brings to Bombay and the 
Malabar coast their monsoon rains, but which to Madras becomes mostly a hot wind 
after traversing the peninsula, and carries with it to Madras only a few showers. 
The S.W. wind begins to prevail at Madras over every other wind in the month of 
April, and mostly remains the dominant wind until the end of September : the S.E. 
wind then prevails until October, about the middle of which month the approaching 
N.E. or rainy monsoon of the Coromandel coast almost displaces the S.E. wind. Its 
full development takes place in November, and it remains the prevailing wind until 
February, when the S.E. regains its influence, and is greatly the dominant wind 
until April, when it is gradually displaced by the S.W. wind. The N.W. wind makes 
its appearance in every month of the year, chiefly in the months of the S.W. or Malabar 
monsoon, but least so in the months of March and April, in the years 1841 not in 
March, and 1842 not at all in April ; the N.E. wind failed in the same months in the 
respective years. The N.W. is the quarter from whence Madras has the smallest 
amount of wind. The largely prevailing wind is the S.W., which, coming up from 
the equator, is the chief source of rain supply to India generally, but of which the 
Coromandel coast gets but a scanty proportion in consequence of the high western 
Ghats intercepting and condensing the chief part of the vapour brought by that wind. 
The next prevailing wind is the S.E., and this equally blows from the equator upon 
Madras and the Coromandel coast ; but it is nevertheless not the rain-bearing wind 
of the Madras monsoon, which is from the N.E., sweeping over the bay of Bengal 
from Burinah. The S.W. wind from the Indian Ocean is a rain-bearing wind, but 
