THE RAINFALL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10901, 4 November 1898, Page 5

THE RAINFALL.

We have obtained from the records kept by Mr. Cheeseman, the Government Meteorological Observer, some interesting figures showing how the twelve months just past compare with previous years in the matter •of rainfall. In the following table we give in the first column the rainfall from November, 1897, to October, 1898, inclusive, a Period of 12 months, while in the second column we give the average rainfall of each month for the past 25 years: —

36.25 42.05 Difference 5.80 This shows that during the year just past we were nearly 6in deficient of the average. This was owing to the exceptional dryness of November. December, February, April, May, and June. July and August made a good effort to bring up the average, the rainfall in these months being exceptionally heavy. For October we had a fall of 4.68, as against the average of 3.53. We have had drier years than the last. In 1885 the rainfall only amounted to 28.14 in, which is about the minimum recorded, while in 1893 it amounted to 53.81. These two are calculations from January to December.

Avornge for v, , 25 yuars. iSovember 1.51 2.88 December 0.13 2.75 January, 1898 ... 3.14 2.54 February 0.78 3.57 March 3.02 2.48 April 0.97 3.19 May 3.67 4.18 June 3.98 4.86 July 6.18 4.64 August 5.94 4.24 September 2.25 3.19 October 4.68 3.53