VIII. 
REPORT ON THE RAINFALL IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1889. 
By John- Hopkihson - , F.L.S., F.G-.S., F.B.Met.Soc. 
Read at Watford , 22 nd April , 1890. 
There are a few alterations in the staff of our observers of the 
rainfall, resulting in an increase, for the year 1889, of two rainfall 
stations. The return for Watford House could not be accepted, 
owing to omissions in it; but, as Mr. Forrester Scott has favoured 
me with a return for Bushey Heath, the number of our stations 
in the Lower Colne district remains the same as before. In the 
report for the previous year it was stated that we had only one 
observer in the large district of the Beane; we have now two, Mr. 
Marlborough Pryor having communicated his return for Weston 
Manor, Stevenage. The other addition is that of a former station, 
Brocket Hall, Hatfield, for which a return has been received from 
Mr. J. Landon, increasing the number of our stations in the Upper 
Lea District to four. 
The present report is thus drawn up from returns for 30 stations, 
and from 23 of these I have the daily rainfall. I have not included 
in the principal table the records of the second and third gauges at 
Bothamsted, the 8-inch and the one-thousandth-of-an-acre gauge ,* 
this table therefore comprising the records of the same number of 
gauges as before. 
Particulars of the rainfall stations, and the monthly and total 
rainfall and number of days on which (P01 in. or more fell, are 
given in the accompanying tables (Tables I and II, pp. 66, 67). 
The mean rainfall in the county in the year 1889 was 27’50 
inches. This is 1-50 in. below the mean of the 10 years 1876-85, 
and 1*15 in. above the mean of the 40 years 1840-79. While 
thus about a fair average amount, there were heavy falls on the 
11th and 26th of May; and on the 12th of July there was an 
unprecedentedly heavy fall over nearly the whole of the county, 
most of the observers recording it as the greatest they have ever 
measured. Of this fall I have elsewhere given an account.f 
Distribution of Rainfall throughout the Year .—Of the total rain¬ 
fall 16°/ 0 fell during the winter months (Jan., Feb., and Dec.), 
30°/ o during the spring (March to May), 30°/ o during the summer 
(June to Aug.), and 24°/ c during the autumn (Sept, to Nov.). 
The fall of each quarter and of each season, and their deviation 
from the mean of our period (1876-85), was as follows:— 
Fall. Diff. 
1st quarter. 4*86 in. —Lloin. 
2nd „ 8-21 +1-57 
3rd ,, 8-42 +0’22 
4th „ 6-01 —2*14 
Fall. Diff. 
Winter. 4-39 in. —2*76 in. 
Spring. 849 +2-45 
Summer . 8-26 +0-54 
Autumn . 6-66 —1-73 
* These were respectively 29-13 ins. on 164 days, and 30-56 ins. on 176 days. 
* ‘ Hertfordshire Constitutional Magazine,’ vol. iii, pp. 6-8 (Sept. 1889). 
VOL. VI.—PART III. 
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