CORRESPONDENCE AND NOTES 339

John Patterson ha({ w t :ibout laying the foundation of the greatest ineteorological service tvhich a\ iar ion would demand. He had influenced the University of ‘l’oronto to offer a g-raduate course in meteorology, he had trained young men in advanced meteorological science, and had attracted experts from abroad into the Service. When war came, i t was found that the groundwork of a grrat meteorological service h:ld been laid. I t was able later to meet the demands for weather informa- tion of the British Coninionwealth Air Training Plan, the anti-submarine activities of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the trans-ocean flights of the Ferry Command from the North .lmerican terminus. Jfr. Halve said that today Canada has a meteorological service of the first rank. The Minister then announced the inauguration of the Patterson Medal, a means of permanently recognising the greatness of John Patterson, whose health he proposed.

In reply Dr. Patterson said he could not adequately express his thanks for all the kind expressions of appreciation of his work. It was a great honour to have the Minister, who had played such an outstand- ing part in the Government, come to Toronto to announce the inaugura- tion of the medal. I t was gratifxing to have his superiors in the Govern- ment Service present. He had always enjoyed their confidence, assistance and encouragement. Representatives of the scientific societies were also present; he had always considered his activities in these societies more a hobby than work. T o all he expressed his heartfelt thanks.

H e gave great credit to Prof. E. F. Burton, of the University of Toronto, through whose initiative the Master of Arts course in Meteorology had been established. Coming just before the great espan- sion of the Szrvice, this course had made possible the procurement of highly -qualified new staff.

Dr. Patterson was most grateful that his friends had chosen to honour him by the inauguration of a medal, since it w-ould promote meteorological science. This tvas the first time there had been any award set up in Canada for meteorological work. Other sciences haye foundations and institutions devoted to their study, but meteorolopy, a science which affects every l i v i n g being, has not received its due.

He said that the advancement of meteorological science depends on two main factors : the improvement of basic weather information, and the development of a technical staff capable of making the most of it. To-day basic data are being augmented chiefly from the upper air, and is very expensive by pre-war standards. An expenditure small in propor- tion to the cost of the data should be applied to increased technical staff for investigation. An advance in that direction would make the diffvrence between a service that was just operating and not making much progress, and one that was developing, keeping abreast of the times, anti making the country known for its advanced work in meteorology.

jj1.506.1(42)

Meteorological Observations at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, during the Year 1945

(Communicated b y the Astroriomer Royal) Observations during the year 1c)qj-the one hundred and fifth year

of routine recording of meteorological data a t the Observatorv--follo\\e~i the normal programme. Dt.tails which indicate the principal features oi

340 CORRESPONDENCE A N D NOTES

the year's weather have been extracted from the register and appear beloLv.

The maximum temperature of the air was 87.8" F. and occurred on August 4. The corresponding reading of the maximum thermometer exposed on the open (Glaisher) screen was 88.6". The temperature rose to 80" or above on I I days, one of which was April 16 (80.3"), this being the earliest day of the year on which a temperature as high as 80" has ever been recorded a t the Observatory. The maximum reading of the thermometer on the open screen (which also was 80.3" on April 16) reached 80.1" on April 17, when, however, it was 1.2' higher than in the standard Stevenson screen. The unprecedented occurrence at Greennich of a temperature above 75" on four consecutive April days (15th to 18th) may be noted.

The minimum temperature occurred on January 29 and was 1 5 . 1 ~ (14.8" in the open screen). There were 37 days on which temperature fell to 32' or below, 22 of them in January and 10 in December. None occurred in April or May,.

The mean temperature for the year was 5 1 . 7 ' ~ which is 2.0' above the average for 100 years 1841-1940 and has only twice been surpassed in the period, namely, in 1868 (52.0') and in 1921 (52.2").

January was the only month of the year with mean temperature below the average (5.6" below). In February i t was 6.0" above average; in hlarch 4.9" above; in .4pril 4.4" above; and in October 3.7" above. February, with 45.8". had the highest mean temperature yet recorded a t Greenwich for that month.

The maximum reading of the solar radiation thermometer was 14j.6", recorded on June 24; the minimum temperature on the ground occurred on January 29, and was 14.0".

The readings of the barometer a t 152 feet above sea level ranged from 28.j09 inches on January 19 and again on December 19, to 30.604 inches on March 9.

The total number of hours of bright sunshine registered was 1311.5, which is 10 per cent below the average for 40 years 1897-1936. The remarkably small total registered in September calls for special note. I t was 61.4 hours, which is only 40 per cent of the normal amount and actually 23 hours less than the total in the previous worst September

The sunniest month was June, with 194.4 hours; and the sunniest day June 18, with 14.1 hours. There were 74 entirely sunless days in the year, 50 being in the winter months January, February, November, December.

The night-sky camera recorded the trace of 6 Ursae Minoris during 3.; per cent of the total time of exposure. This figure may be compared with the amount of sunshine recorded, which was 29 per cent of the total theoretically possible. Eleven days were noted as overcast through- out and 3 days as cloudless throughout.

The total horizontal movement of the air recorded by the Robinson anemometer was 86.701 miles, but the instrument was out of action from January 22 to 29 inclusive and no record was made on those days. The greatest daily movement was 779 miles registered on October 26; the greatest hourly movement was 38 miles (February z and October 2 6 ) ; the greatest pressure, 27.0 Ib. on the square foot, n'as recorded on February 2.

(1936).

Every month had at least one sunless day.

CORRESPONDEKCE AX11 KOTES 341

This is 4.93 inches less than the average for 100 >-ears 1841-1940, and brings the accumulated deficiency in the last three years to 11.2 inches, that is more than ~j per cent.

The number of days on which rainfall \vas ,005 inch or more was 163. The wettest month was July, which had a total of 2.922 inches, although December, with 2.861 inches, was a close rival. The driest month was November, which provided only o.ij6 inch of rainfall. This is without parallel in \\hat is normally the third \vettest month of the year. The previous low record \vas 0.42 inch, the total in November 1867. The only period of " absolute drought," however, extended for the 18 days September 29 to October 16 inclusive. :I drought in October is quite exceptional, and there are but tiyo other instances in the Green- wich records-each of fifteen days' duration-namely, in 1888 and 1931.

N o day, measured from midnight to midnight, in 1945 had rainfa11 amounting to I h c h . The largest total on a n y single day was 0.827 inch on December 28.

5 5 ' . 577.3' The Distribution of Diurnal Rainfall at St. Augustine, Trinidad,

British West Indies Continuous records of rainfall, obtained by means of a siphon g a q e

with a daily drum, tvet-c 'coniinenced at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, St. Augustine, lrinidad, B.W.I., in 1928. 'These appear to be the most extensive records of the diurnal distribution of rainfall for a station in the West Indies. The daily charts have been analysed hour by hour for the 15-year period 1929-1943 inclusive. The gauge records usually show good agreement with the standard gauge (8 inch), but in one or two years there were a fe\v periods of a few days' duration when the gauge was out of action. This makes the average rainfall slightly lower than that recorded by the standard gauge, but it is thought that this slight loss will make no difference to the general pattern of distribu- tion. The results obtained are shown diagrammatically in Fig. I , where the average distribution of each month's rainfall in any hour of the day is shown.

The pattern of the diurnal rainfall in the months of the dry season, January-April, contrasts sharply with that of the wet season months, June-November, lvhile May and December are transitional months. - In all months there is a clear tendency for the most rain to fall in the mid- day hours, while he driest times are usually a few hours before midnight. The month of January has a n unusually high proportion of rain in the early hours of the morning (31 per cent of the total up to 8.00 hrs.). I n April the rainfall peak occurs between 14.00 hrs. and 15.00 hrs.-later than in any other month. The diurnal distribution of rainfall in the \vet season months is generally speaking very similar but there are interesting differences. Thus May, June and July, besides showing major peaks of rainfall a t midday, have minor peaks occurring before or about sunrise, which are largely accounted for by heavy but short showers of non- convectional rain. This tendency is not so marked in August and September and is practically absent in October and November. December, however, again has a higher proportion of early morning rain. Another feature, apparent from Fig. I , is the tendency as the wet season progresses for a greater proportion of the daily rain to fall in the midday hours.

The total rainfall during the J v x A'as only 19.404 inches.