RAIN FALLS IN ENGLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20300, 6 July 1929, Page 13

RAIN FALLS IN ENGLAND.

MUCH NEEDED MOISTUBE.

SEVERE DROUGHT BROKEN.

HEAVY FALL IN LONDON. (Received July 6, 5.C5 p.m.) British- Wireless. RUGBY, July i. Heavy rain, accompanied by violent thunderstorms,- occurred over the greater part of England early to-day, breaking the drought, which had become severe in many parts of the country. Nearly an inch of rain fell in London and three inches on the east coast. . } ,

When the last mail left England at the end of May tho deficiency of rain which had characterised the entire year up to

then was still apparent. May yielded little more than lin. at Kcw, where less than halt tho average amount had fallen since January 1. England's experience was thus summed up by tho Observer earlier in May :

(1) The driest March over the country as a whole since before 1.870.

(2) The driest three months, January March, on record in London.

(3) The driest four months, JanuaryApril, in London since regular records began to be kept in 1815. At a number of places in S.E England no rain at all was measured in March. At Shoeburyness only 1.l Bin. was measured in three months (JanuaryMarch), and the total,there for this year to May 5 was only 2.2oiri. In S.E. England the total fall since January 1 was slightly under 2in. The Kew Observaitory figures for that period totalled 2 l-3in., or only about one-third of the normal based on records for many years past. Of the first 124 days of 192y- 103 days (or 83 per cent.) gave no rain in the Kew gauge or, if any, only a negligible amount. At Greenwich the first four months' rain totalled 2.61 in., .and this was the driest January-April ever recorded there, and only one four-month spell (MarchJune, 1893) was drier. Previous dry spells are:— 1893.—March-June,.l.9om. 1929.—January-April, 2.61 in. 1852.—February-May, 2.65 in. 1873.—December-March, 2.70 in. 1863.—February-May, 2.90 in. tß74.—February-May, 3.16 in. 1902.—January-April, 3.21 in. 1832.-—January-April, 3.27 in. f .: 1854.—January-April, 3.52 in.