THE RAINFALL.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.

1849 to 1879. 1849 to 1879.

January

1.67 in. February 1.50 in.

February

1.50 in. April 1.57 in.

March

1.58 in. March 1.58 in.

April

1-57 in. January 1.67 in.

May

1'99 in. September 1.88 in.

June

2.06 in. December 1.88 in.

July

2.50 in. May 1.99 in.

August

2.49 in. November 1.99 in.

September

1.88 in. June 2.06 in.

October

2.66 in. August 2.49 in.

November

1-99 in. July 2.50 in.

December

1.88 in. October 2.66 in.

2317 in. 2317 in.

Arranged in order of dryness, the list differs somewhat from the Birmingham order, and notably in this, that October, July,. and August are our wettest months, and September is a com- paratively dry one ; but the same law which you deduce from the Birmingham record may, I think, be clearly discerned in ours also. For York, it may be thus expressed :—That the first four months, from January so April, are the driest of the year; that there is then a decided leap, the rain increasing steadily through May, June, July, and August, falling to an average in September, to rise in October to the highest point of the year,. decreasing greatly in November, and still further, by smaller successive steps, through December and January to February,. the driest month of the year.

These thirty-one years' figures show the six months from May to October have had over fifty-seven per cent. of the rain- fall of the year, against under forty-three per cent. for the six months from November to April.—I am, Sir, &c.,

Sin,—For comparison with the interesting notice in your issue of October 23rd of the rainfall of the last twenty years as observed at Moseley, near Birmingham, I annex the monthly means of the past thirty-one years as observed at York, and side by side with it the same list arranged in order of dryness. The figures are calculated from the average of several depend- able gauges in or near the city, rather than on the records of any one, in order to minimise error :—

31

Mean 11 years, Mean

years,.