Abstract
Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine, July.—The “International Cloud Atlas.” Mr. Symons takes the opportunity offered by the publication of this work (of which only a very few copies have yet been distributed) to make a brief reference to the principal works on clouds which have recently preceded the present one, including M. Weilbach's “Nordeuropas Sky-former” (Copenhagen, 1881), the “Wolken-Atlas” of MM. Hildebrandsson, Köppen, and Neumayer (Hamburg, 1890), M. Singer's “Wolkentafeln” (Munich, 1892), “Classificazione delle nubi” by the Specola Vaticana, containing some excellent reproductions of M. Mannucci's photographs (Rome, 1893), and the Rev. W. Clement Ley's “Cloudland” (London, 1894). The “International Cloud Atlas” (Paris, 1896) has been prepared under the superintendence of the International Meteorological Committee, and contains twenty-eight coloured reproductions of clouds. Although none of them is from an English photograph, Mr. Symons thinks our countrymen may be well content to see how largely the international system of 1896 is based upon the work of Luke Howard, and that the classification adopted is practically that of the joint work of Dr. Hildebrandsson and the Hon. Ralph Abercromby.—The spring drought of 1896. Mr. Symons selected twenty-eight stations distributed over the United Kingdom; these show that the rainfall for the first half of the year at eight out of sixteen English and Welsh stations, the total fell below two-thirds of the average, the lowest values being 48 per cent. at Haverfordwest; while for the Scotch and Irish stations the average was 83 per cent. and 80 per cent. respectively. The results for April and May show that at three stations the rainfall was less than 20 per cent. of the average, the total in London being 19 per cent. In 1893 the drought was more severe in parts of England and Wales, but the 1896 drought in the south of Ireland appears to be unprecedented; at Cork it lasted for sixty-four days.
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Scientific Serials. Nature 54, 334 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/054334a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/054334a0