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15
Meteorology.
Through the kindness of E. L. Hawke, Esq., M.A., F.R.A.S.,
E.R.Met.S., Secretary of the Royal Meteorological Society and Hon.
Meteorologist to the Hampstead Scientific Society, I am able to submit
his report on meteorology in Hampstead during the year 1934, which
is based on records kept at that Society's Observatory on the top of
Hampstead Heath adjoining the White Stone Pond:—
"The year 1934, like its predecessor, was notable chiefly for
continued drought. In eight months out of the twelve there was a
marked deficiency of rain, while December alone gave a fall substantially
in excess of the normal. On November 30th the year's
total stood at only 16.52 ins., representing not quite two-thirds of the
average, and 1.70 ins. less than the measurement for the corresponding
period of 1933. December, however, proved to be the wettest since
1915, adding as much as 5.54 ins., and thus raising the 1934 aggregate
to 22.06 ins. Even so, the year, with 6.53 ins. less than the normal
rainfall, ranked as the third driest since records were begun at the
Observatory in 1910.
The number of days on which at least 0.01 ins. of precipitation
in any form was registered during 1934 was 162—16 fewer than
usual. The duration of appreciable rainfall (excluding slight drizzle
but including snow, sleet and hail) was 482.4 hours, of which December
contributed 124 hours, or just over 25 per cent. For the second
year in succession no day yielded as much as an inch of rain, the
maximum measurement being 0.92 ins. on August 28th. Thunderstorms,
or thunder alone, occurred on 18 days; the most noteworthy
occasion was on the afternoon of September 15th, when two short
storms of exceptional violence broke over the district, accompanied
by hailstones ranging upwards to about an inch in diameter, which
did extensive minor damage. Snow fell on only seven days, one of
which was October 31st—an unusually early date.
The total number of sunny hours in 1934 was 1,509. This
exceeds the average by 29 hours, but is 226.5 hours less than was
recorded in 1933. Eight months showed a deficit below the normal,
and the year's excess was due in large measure to a spell of remarkably
brilliant weather from June 30th to July 11th. During that
period the sun left its trace on the registering instrument for 156.7