The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1903-06-19
RAIN STATISTICS.
Many Things Worth Knowing About
Dry and Wet Weather.

whole earth is 36 inches.
A fan OF four inches OF rain in this |
country during any twenty-four hours |
is something out Of the ordinary.
Tho most extraordinary rainfalls
ever recorded in the United States
were those which occurred at Fiat
brush, h. l., and at Catskill, n. Y.
on August %, 1s4s, at which time both
places mentioned received a fall of
over nine inches of water in less than
eight hours.
Olean, N. Y, had a rainfall of AZ
teen inches during &c hours on July
26.27, 1919.
Five and one-half inches of water
fell at Wilmington, Delaware, in less
than two hours on July 29. 1894
A fall Of thirty inches OF water dur.
ing "a hours is not considered any
thing of a wonder in the mountains OF
Switzerland.
There are hundreds OF instances OF
record where over fifteen inches of
water has fallen during single after
noon storm in Calcutta. Ind.
Sergeant Chapel of the weather ser.
vice, Des Moines, recorded six inches
OF rainfall at Brownsville, Texas. dur
ing eight hours on Sept. 20, 1886.
The annual rainfall at Sierra Leone,
Africa, is 1876 inches.
Variations in the size Of rain drops
are due to atmospheric disturbances
and the height from which they fall,
those from a high altitude being much
tho smaller.
London has an annual average rain
fall OF only 25 inches; Paris, %; Edin-
burgh SS.
A celebrated meteorologist says
that the ninth day Of the moon is al
ways the wettest of the whole twenty
eight, and that o'clock in the after
noon is the rainiest hour of the day.
The wettest place in the United
States is Neah Bay, Wash, where an
average Of 1913 inches of water falls
every year.
The dryest place in the United
States where regular observations are
taken is at Ft. Garland, Col, where
the average rainfall seldom exceeds
six inches. There are, however. sew
eral localities in Arizona, Utah, Ne
vada and California where rainfall has
never been known.
The principles of rainfall were first
correctly and scientifically set forth
by Dalton in the year 1887.
When rain falls from a great height
the drops suffer gradual division into
smaller parts until they are finally
converted into mists.
The heaviest rainfall ever recorded
in England was at Argyle on Dec. T.,
1868, when seven inches of water fell
in "a hours.
The wettest spot on the entire globe
is at Cherrapungi, Assam, where the
average rainfall each year during the
past century was 493 inches. In 1861
it was 905 inches.
In calm weather the clouds near the
earth's surface make the rain drops
large and heavy.
Rain while the sun is shining is re-
ferred to in nearly every country in
the world by an expression equiva-
lent TO "the devil whipping his wife. !"
At Bombay "a inches OF rain has fall.
len in a single day; at Genoa, 80;
at Gibraltar, 33.
A shower of rain which surprised
the inhabitants of Alden, Arabia, in
1883, was the first that had fallen at
that place in 3S years.
The expresslon"an inch of rain"
means more than most people suppose,
Il means $4,000 gallons of water to
the acre. This immense quantity of
water will weigh exactly 100000
pounds or 100 tons. Whenever there
is an inch of rainfall things are pret-
ty apt to get quite a wetting.
Sir John Ross is authority for the
statement that in the South Atlantic
ocean rain frequently falls in torrents
from a clear sky He mentions one
: occasion when rain fell in sheets for
J over an hour while the stars were
shining all the time in the full beauty
Of tropical splendor.
The meteorologists have been hgur.
ing on the rainfall OF various countries
and reducing their calculations to
horsepower tables. These tables are
supposed TO give the amount Of horse.
power exerted by the falling drops
during year. Figures thus reduced
show that the annual rainfall of the
United States is equal TO 100000 0OC
l.