The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-08-22

DIR. Draper's Gnugcs Were busy on Sunday
Cycles of Rainfall.


The greatest rainfall hitherto recorded AZ
the Central Park Arsenal was exceeded on
Sunday morning. DR.. Draper said yesterday
that his rain gauges showed that one and ono
half inches fell during the twenty minutes be-
tween 1915 and 1885 o'clock. From $3.50 A.
NJ, when the rain began. until P. NJ. when 10
ended. the fall was 2.21 inches. which figures
break the record for the last five years. From
$3.50 o'clock on Saturday evening to O'clock
on Sunday morning the fall was 1.6 inches.
which makes the total rainfall for the two days
Now, said Or, Draper, ~ you will null
which is the number Of gallons that fell on one
acre during the storm"
last week of June to the middle Of August they
were almost without employment. The
twenty five years Of the eitys weather bu-
that the woodlands Of Central Park exercise no
influence e upon the rainfall within the area Of
city is practically the same as that Of tho
Croton watershed. In series Of years the
the city have not differed two inches. So what's
true Of DR.. Diapers roof may be taken as true
OF the whole region hereabouts. city and
MI; The season started out with a good rainfall .
The he, acRregate for April. May. and June was va!
for the past twenty-h five years. June did pretty
but that was t niue Below low the average and
really 9reran the drought Of July and Auguss
and it amounted to about three quarters Of an
inch. which was really very good Then came
s with Of Less So hn n ss e. snd ess
or and t" the middle of the EaiP
was moro than fourteen times as great. The
nearest approach to the &c. conditions Of those
not quite SO bad then.
=, DR.. Draper is less impressed by drought
to study tho subject OF rainfall. and no knows
AL about the droughts OF the past 200 years.
and t Tx
variation Of the rainfall moves in cycles Of
about sixty years There have oeen three
@aticaIly Observed in New YORK ier nearly
has been proved The raIniall in Phiiadeiphis
has been observed since 1925. and there. at
Of less and Of more than average rainfall cor
respond with those Of less and OF more than
What constitutes drought rs one OF the hard
GnsstioTf that curious Pc put to- % DO
weser nara al seS
under which rain fails. 4 rainfall q, two Inch;
fall is about three INCHES. would be almost .
flood. while SO small a rainfall here. where
might be. amost a drought June's mod
crate rainfall prevented anything like
., Drought, because it was pretty well
distributed through the month July's 1.l3
inches might not have been much too
small had it fallen at night in gentle showers.
and without much wind Tho rain that does
the least good is the sharp showers followed
by hot sun and high wind AZ such 9
often dusty surface of the ground and when
the sun and wind follow they quickly dry up
what Is loft on the surface
AS New York city is not to any great extent
nm agricultural region. the question Of rain
fall might seem Of too small importance to this
community to Justify all OF DR.. Diapers OBJ
servations and calculations. but there are q
great many things not agricultural that de-
pend uponthe rainfall Whenever a sewer is
to be built, for example the engineers in
charge consult Dr. Diapers tables in order to
ascertain the maximum RAINFALL not only In
any given year month but in any single
hour. Sewers are built to guard against
heavy rainfaIls that recur with frequency. and
the record OF Dr. Draper's rain gauges for
every day. hour. and minute of tho last TWEEN
tyilve years is appealed to by engineers with
q growing confidence.