Paradoxical Rainfall Data

PROF. McADIE, in NATURE of March 17, p. 362, directs attention to the apparently paradoxical fact that the wettest month observed in 37 years at Blue Hill observatory fell in June, the month with the lowest rainfall average, whereas the driest month fell in March, the month with the highest average. The coincidence is a curious one, but less improbable than might at first sight appear, since the monthly rainfall is at many stations extremely variable. Some idea of its extreme variability may be gathered from the following table, showing the distribution in half-inch intervals of the rainfall at Rothamsted for 70 years from March 1853 to February 1923.