The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-29
his words are good and wise. II liz evident THAI
the preacher THINKS they are, else ne wouldns
pray for the good and wise words"
Instances of Extraordinary Precipitation In
Various Parts of the World.

Instances of Extraordinary Prectpitatlon iu
Various Parts of the World.
New York Tribune.
A dispatch from China tina other day gave
some account of very heavy and destructive
rainfall in one of the provinces of the Middle
Kingdom. 1t was stated that 1922 inches were
precipitated in twenty.four hours, with the re
suit of flooding large tracts and doing much
damage What fall of ten inches in twenty
four hours means may be realized from the fact
that one inch of rain gives 100 tons Of water per
acre, or sc, 600 tons to the square mile Ten
inches, therefore, gives 900 tons of water to the
acre. and GOO, 900 tons to the square mile. Yes
the Chinese rainful referred to is by no means liz
the front of rank of such occurrences. For
instance, Arago reports that on Oct g. 1927, no
less than 80. inches Of rain fell in twenty two
hours at Joyeuse. That was three times the
Chinese precipitation, and consequently reached
square mile. Again, Oct %, 1886, a
weterspout broke over Gibraltar and BOIL
iiHles of water fell. This is nearly two-thirds
of the average annual rainfall Of New York.
No such fall has ever been recorded in Eng
land, though the rate of it was approached
pretty closely on Aug l. 1876. when 3. II inches
fell in two hours in st. Paul's church yard. This
was very heavy rain for the locality, for at
London fall of more than one inch in twenty
four hours is rare In the west of England.
however, the precipitation is much more
abundant Thus on July IA, 1873, In
Monmouthshire. s.. So inches fell in twenty four
hours and on June 80, 1881, at Seathwaite, 40
inches fell in the same space of time. The
average annual rainfall at the last named place,
indeed, is l54 inches-a record not to be matched
elsewhere out of the tropics. We sometimes
think New York has plenty of moisture, but
Seathwalte beats US almost four to one, and
even Seathwaite cannot hold candle-or
perhaps we should say rain gauge-to some
other places The wettest parts of the globe
are naturally such as are exposed to westerly
winds blowing over the extensive ocean tracts,
and depositing their moisture on the first coast
they meet Such places are the Khasia Hills, in
Assam, with Cherraponga, where the annual
rainfall Sc. according to Scott, 400 inches, and
accordir Lyman, 600 inches This would
give ;tation of 10000 tons to the acre,
and 6, 10 tons to the square mile. 1t
repres' O. body of water, in fact fifty feet in
depth.
There is no such tremendous precipitation in
any other part of the globe, though several places
40 their best to emulate Cherraponga This
western Ghauts of India come next, with
| Mahabulashma, which has a respectable record
| of 200 inches. Next again comes Buitenzey, in
Java, with 160 inches, and Seathwaite, England,
runs it close with 154 inches Bergen, in Nor
| way; Sitka, in Alaska Valdivia in southern
Chill, and place in New Zealand follow, while
Maranhao, in Brazil, holds its own very sturdily.
1t appears that an elevation of about four thou
sand feet above the sea level affords the most
favorable conditions (other things being equalI
| for the heaviest precipitation, for that is ths
| hight of both Cherraponga and Mahabuiashma.
| In the so-called CLOUD bursts" which occur ON
the Western plains the precipitation is probably
| as heavy as that of the Gibraltar waterspout
| cited above though no record has, we believe,
yet been obtained of such phenomena. til also
| somewhat curious that though exceptionally
severe storms seem at times to disturb the
record the result of sixty years of observation
| shows that the annual average in these Eastern
States remains constant, and that we have
neither more nor less rainfall on the whole than
our grandfathers had