Rainfall Sentence Examples
The average rainfall at Perth is 33 in.
The rainfall, which varies between 39 and 47 in.
The rainfall in the south-west portion of the island is considerably greater than in other districts.
The rainfall of New South Wales ranges from an annual average of 64 in.
The climate is mild but damp. The annual rainfall over the greater part varies from.
In inland localities, where the rainfall is much lower, steppes occur.
The temperature and rainfall are governed by conditions different from those in corresponding latitudes of the northern hemisphere..
The rainfall of Melbourne averages 25.58 in., the mean number of rainy days being 131.
The mean annual rainfall (1861 to 1899) is 26 06 in.
At Ghardaia, in south-eastern Algeria, the mean annual rainfall, from 1887 to I892, was about 43/4 in.
AdvertisementThe average rainfall is about 38 in.
The rainfall in the extreme north, especially in January and February, is very heavy, and the annual average along the coast is about 63 in.
This zone has an abundant rainfall, dense forests and a fertile soil.
In northern Asia there is a generally equal rainfall of 19 to 29 in.
It is found in greatest perfection in the forests of the west coasts of Burma and the Indian peninsula, where the rainfall is heaviest, growing to a height of too or 150 ft., mixed with other trees and bamboos.
AdvertisementThe rainfall in the wet season is heavy, but not excessive, and during the dry season the ground is refreshed with occasional showers and heavy dews.
The rainfall, though moderate, is still sufficient to maintain the supply of water in the great rivers that traverse the country to the Arctic Sea, and to support an abundant vegetation.
This belt, which embraces Asia Minor, northern Persia, Afghanistan, and the southern slopes of the Himalaya, from its elevation has a temperate climate, and throughout it the rainfall is sufficient to maintain a vigorous vegetation, while the summers, though hot, and the winters, though severe, are not extreme.
The truly tropical flora of the hotter and wetter regions of eastern India is continuous with that of the Malayan peninsula and islands, and extends along the lower ranges of the Himalaya, gradually becoming less marked and rising to lower elevations as we go westward, where the rainfall diminishes and the winter cold increases.
Among the more mountainous regions of the south-western part of Arabia, known as Arabia Felix, the summits of which rise to 6000 or 7000 ft., the rainfall is sufficient to develop a more luxuriant vegetation, and the valleys have a flora like that of similarly situated parts of southern Persia, and the less elevated parts of Afghanistan and Baluchistan, partaking of the characters of that of the hotter Mediterranean region.
AdvertisementThe mean annual rainfall is greater on the slopes of the ranges by which the moisturebearing clouds are intercepted.
The rainfall varies from about 30 in.
The district is subject to very heavy rainfall approaching r50 in.
The rainfall is abundant, and the climate hot, damp and malarial.
To the former belong the Black Sea littoral, where the rainfall averages 59 to 93 in.
AdvertisementIn Lenkoran also the rainfall averages 40 to 50 in.
The cultivation of the soil is, however, attended in many parts with great difficulties owing to the scanty rainfall and the very primitive implements still in use, and in the valley of the Kura heavy losses are frequently incurred from depredations by locusts.
The climate of Bellary is characterized by extreme dryness, due to the passing of the air over a great extent of heated plains, and it has a smaller rainfall than any other district in south India.
The winters in the uplands are generally severe, and the rainfall heavy.
The contrasts shown by the mean annual rainfall are similarly marked.
The hot drought of 1893 extended over the spring and summer months, but there was an abundant rainfall in the autumn; correspondingly there was an unprecedentedly bad yield of corn and hay crops, but a moderately fair yield of the main root crops (turnips and swedes).
The year 1903 was memorable for a very heavy rainfall, comparable though not equal in its disastrous effects to that of 1879.
It may mean what is ordinarily understood by the word - climate, rainfall, railway rates or anything else except " indestructible powers of the soil."
The soil is an oozy mud which can only be made capable of carrying buildings by the artificial means of pile-driving; there is no land fit for agriculture or the rearing of cattle; the sole food supply is fish from the lagoon, and there is no drinking-water save such as could be stored from the rainfall.
During June and the first fortnight in July plenty of sunshine is necessary, accompanied by sufficient rain to promote healthy, but not excessive, growth; the normal rainfall in the cotton belt for this period is about 42 in.
In either case an adequate but not excessive rainfall, increasing from the time of sowing to the period of active growth, and then decreasing as the bolls ripen, with a dry picking season, combined with sunny days and warm nights, provide the ideal conditions for successful cotton cultivation.
The total amount of water given is approximately equivalent to a rainfall of about 35 in.
The rainfall is uncertain and low, however, never exceeding 40 in., and on the supply of water by irrigation the future of the industry mainly depends.
Even the steppe exhibits great contrasts of temperature; there the rainfall is slight and the air exceedingly exhilarating and healthy.
Palestine, being less shut in and enjoying a comparatively large general rainfall, would be still a land " flowing with milk and honey " had its forests not been destroyed, and the terracing, which used to hold up soil on the highlands, been maintained.
Commagene, where not rocky, and the district lying along the southward drains from its divide (anc. Cyrrhestica), is in better case, enjoying perennial streams which can be utilized, and the fringe of the Tauric rainfall.
The average annual rainfall is about 30 in.
The rainfall averages 52.09 in.
The average annual rainfall is 33 in.
The water parting is about twice as far from the north coast as it is from the south coast, the rainfall is greater on the north slope, and the principal rivers - Rio Loiza, Rio de la Plata, Rio Manati and Rio Arecibo are on the north side.
The average annual rainfall on the north-east coast, at the foot of El Yunque Mountain, is 120 in.
At San Juan the average annual rainfall is about 55 in.; nearly two-thirds of this falls from J une to November inclusive.
It is well watered by numerous small streams and one larger river, the Aguascalientes or Rio Grande, and has a mild healthy climate with a moderate rainfall.
The eastern part of the Nagpur country and the Chhattisgarh plain, comprising the Mahanadi basin, form the great rice tract of the province, its heavy rainfall and hard yellowish soil rendering it excellently adapted for the growth of this crop.
The rainfall of the province is considerably heavier than in northern India, and the result of this is a cooler and more pleasant atmosphere during the monsoon season.
This mountainous district, having the sea to the west, records an unusually heavy rainfall.
Near Seathwaite, below Styhead Pass, the largest annual rainfall in the British Isles is recorded, the average (1870-1899) being 133.53 in., while 173.7 was measured in 1903 and 243.98 in.
The months of maximum rainfall at Seathwaite are November, December and January and September.
The higher lands form part of what is known as the "Rain Preserve," where, in order to attract and preserve the rainfall, the trees are never allowed to be felled.
The rainfall is from 4 to 8 in.
The average annual rainfall at Berbera is about 8 in., and more than half of this amount has fallen in one day.
North of this region the surface of the province is of most fertile soil, the ordinary rainfall sufficing for agriculture.
The average rainfall does ndt exceed 35 in.
West of the Pondaung ridge, however, under the Chin hills, the rainfall exceeds 50 inches.
Rainfall is usually heavy in the S.E., but it decreases toward the N.W.
Much more rain falls in summer than in any other season, but in some parts the heaviest rainfall is in the spring and in others in the winter.
Heavy rainfall, high temperature and fertile soil combine to cover the greater part of the state, and particularly the alluvial regions and the coast swamps, with a most luxuriant subtropical vegetation, both arborescent and herbaceous.
The mean rainfall at Havana is about 40 6 in.
The rainfall recorded in 1901 at Nassau amounted to 63.32 in.
The mountainous tract has probably an average altitude of between 6000 and 7000 ft., with a temperate climate and regular rainfall, and is fertile and populous.
The amount of rain decreases from east to west, the mean annual rainfall being 32.7 in.
The rainfall is abundant, especially on the mountain slopes of the south.
The nature of the soil appears, however, to be of secondary importance, provided that it is able to hold moisture and that climatic conditions of high and even temperature with considerable rainfall and absence of wind are satisfied.
The Manihot tree has been widely introduced into other countries, and appears to succeed wherever the rainfall is not excessive.
North of this zone the rainfall decreases towards the Arctic.
The rainfall is exceptionally large, and snow lies on some of the loftier elevations for a considerable portion of the year.
The annual rainfall rarely exceeds 5 in., and there is often no rain from June till October.
The rainfall is abundant, and especially so in summer (December to March) when the humidity is extreme.
The rainfall in 1905 was 91.65 in.
Its semi-arid character is due to the mountain ranges on its northern frontier, which extract the moisture from the north-east trades and leave the Brazilian plateau behind them with a very limited rainfall, except near the Atlantic coast.
This great chapadao is in many respects the best part of Brazil, having a temperate climate,- extensive areas of fertile soil, rich forests and a regular rainfall.
This region is more tropical in character, partially barren, and has an uncertain rainfall, a large part of the Sao Francisco basin and the upper Atlantic slope of its eastern rim being subject to long-continued droughts.
This region is well wooded along the river courses of Minas Geraes, the lower Atlantic slopes of Bahia, which are perhaps outside the plateau proper, and on the weather side of some of the elevated ridges where the rainfall is heavy and regular.
It resembles the Sao Francisco region in its uncertain rainfall and exposure to droughts, and in having large areas of campos suitable for grazing purposes.
The rainfall is good, but not heavy.
In both classes navigation is greatly impeded by sandbars at the mouths of these rivers, while in the districts of periodical rainfall it is greatly restricted in the dry season.
All the rivers in this division are influenced by the periodical character of the rainfall, their navigable channels being greatly shortened in the dry season (August-January).
The rainfall, also, is limited and uncertain.
The Sao Francisco, which belongs to the inland plateau region, is the largest river of the eastern coast of Brazil and exists by virtue of climatic conditions wholly different from those of the coast where it enters the Atlantic. The tributaries of the lower half of this great river, which belong to the Atlantic coast region, are small and often dry, but the upper river where the rainfall is heavier and more regular receives several large affluents.
There are a few small lakes in Maranhao and Piauhy, some in Goyaz in the great valley of the Araguaya, and a considerable number in Matto Grosso, especially in the Paraguay basin, where the sluggish current of that river is unable to carry away the rainfall in the rainy season.
The forest-covered, lowland valley of the Amazon is a region of high temperatures which vary little throughout the year, and of heavy rainfall.
There is no appreciable change of seasons, except that produced by increased rainfall in the rainy season.
The average rainfall throughout the whole Amazon valley is estimated by Reclus as " probably in excess of 2 ' metres " (78.7 in.), and the maximum rise of the great flood is about 45 ft.
The " dry " season, however, is a season of moderate rainfall, except on the north-east coast where arid conditions prevail.
Another exception is that of the Pernambuco coast, where the rainy season comes between March and August, with the heaviest rainfall from May to July, which is the time of the southern winter.
South of Bahia there is a gradual increase in the rainfall, that of Rio de Janeiro exceeding 43 in.
At Santos the rainfall is exceptionally heavy and the mean temperature high, but below that point the climatic conditions are considerably modified, the range in temperature being greater, the mean annual temperature lower, and the rainfall more evenly distributed throughout the year.
At Blumenau, on the Santa Catharina coast, the annual rainfall is 53 in.
Minas Geraes is forested along its water courses and along its southern border only; its sun temperature, therefore, is high and the rainfall in its northern districts is comparatively light.
The rainfall throughout this region is abundant, except in northern Minas Geraes, where the climatic conditions are influenced to some extent by the arid eastern plateau.
South of Sao Paulo the tablelands of Parana, Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul enjoy a temperate climate, with an abundant rainfall.
The slopes of the plateau, which receive a better rainfall, are more heavily forested, some districts being covered with deciduous trees, forming catingas in local parlance.
This dry, thinly-wooded region extends south to the states of Parahyba, where a more regular rainfall favours forest growth nearer the coast.
It is a region of light rainfall, and cultivation depends chiefly on the Gash flood.
At Durban the annual rainfall is about 40 in., at Pietermaritzburg 38.
In 1893, the year of highest recorded rainfall, 70 in.
The rainfall in Hungary, except in the mountainous regions, is small in comparison with that of Austria.
In general the state is insufficiently watered, the rainfall being light and the rivers small.
Since the first advent of white colonists many springs and pans and small streams have dried up, this desiccation being attributed, not so much to decreased rainfall, as to the burning off of the grass every winter, so that the water, instead of soaking in, runs off the hard, baked'ground into the larger rivers.
The chief characteristic of the rainfall is its frequent intensity and short duration.
The heaviest rain is experienced between January and April and is usually accompanied by severe thunderstorms. On the eastern escarpment of the Drakensberg the rainfall is heavy, 50 or 60 in.
The rainfall in the low country is more erratic than on the plateau, and in some districts, a whole year will pass without rain.
Many regions suffer permanently from deficient rainfall; in others, owing to the absence of irrigation works, the water supply is lost, while the burning of the grass at the end of summer, a practice adopted by many farmers, tends to impoverish the soil and render it arid.
The hydrography of the region last mentioned, where the lowlands are flat and the rainfall heavy, is extremely complicated owing to the great number of small rivers and of lakes on or near the lower river courses.
At Caracas the annual rainfall ranged from 602 to 863 millimetres between 1894 and 1902.
Irrigation, which has not been used to any great extent, is needed in some parts of the country for the best results, but in others, as in the valleys and on the northern slopes of the Maritime Andes, the rainfall is sufficiently well distributed to meet most requirements.
The mean annual rainfall ranges in different parts of the metropolis from about 202 to 272 in.
Mines may become flooded by the inrush of surface waters in times of great rainfall or sudden floods, or by the undermining of surface waters.
Although liable to great extremes of temperature, and to a very scanty rainfall, the district is not unhealthy.
North of the apex of the delta and the boundary between the deltaic and inland tracts, the rainfall gradually lessens as far as Minbu, where what was formerly called the rainless zone commences and extends as far as Katha.
In the extreme north of Upper Burma the rainfall is rather less than in the country adjoining Rangoon, and in the dry zone the annual average falls as low as 20 and 30 in.
The temperature varies almost as much as the rainfall.
The rainfall in the hills varies very considerably, but seems to range from about 60 in.
The average rainfall is about 372 inches.
To secure this marvellous return, with an annual rainfall of 26 in., as much as 52,000,000 gallons of water are pumped per 24 hours from artesian wells on one estate alone.
Without a sufficient supply plants remain stunted and the crop yield is seriously reduced, as we see in dry seasons when the rainfall is much below the average.
If one condition is more necessary than another for good crops it is a suitable supply of water, for no amount of manuring or other treatment of the soil will make up for a deficient rainfall.
This may be more than the rainfall, in which case irrigation or special control of the water supply may be necessary.
In the semi-arid regions of the United States, Argentina and other countries where the average annual rainfall lies between ioa to 20 in., irrigation is necessary to obtain full crops every year.
In certain districts where the rainfall is low a crop can only be obtained once every alternate year, the intervening season being devoted to tillage with a view of getting the rain into the soil and retaining it there for the crop in the following year.
Above the level of the ground-water the soil is kept moist by capillary attraction and by evaporation of the water below, by rainfall, and by movements of the ground-water; on the other hand, the upper layers are constantly losing moisture by evaporation from the surface and through vegetation.
Cuban tobacco is grown as a " winter " crop, the summer months being those of high rainfall.
The average annual rainfall is about 60 in., September being the wettest month.
Its chief characteristic is the bareness and aridity of its surface; one-third of the whole desert, and of the remainder only a small proportion is suited to settled life, owing to its scanty water-supply and uncertain rainfall.
Akhdar in the east, which with a temperate climate, due to their great elevation and their proximity to the sea, deserve, if any part of Arabia does, the name of Arabia Felix - the population is settled and agricultural, and the soil, wherever the rainfall is sufficient, is productive.
The rainfall throughout northern and central Arabia is chiefly in the winter months between October and April, and is scanty and irregular.
This appears to be about the northern limit reached by the south-west monsoon, which from June to September brings a fairly abundant rainfall to the Yemen highlands, though the Tehama remains almost entirely rainless.
The rainfall is heaviest along the western fringe of the plateau, and penetrates inland in decreasing quantity over a zone which perhaps extends to loo m.
In the Tehama occasional showers fall during the winter months; at Aden the average rainfall for the year is 2.97 in., but during 1904 only 0.5 in.
Violent storms occur in spring and autumn, and the rainfall, including snow, amounts to 25 in.
Nevertheless, all this southern district of Tunisia bears evidence of once having been subject to a heavy rainfall, which scooped out deep valleys in the original table-land, and has justified the present existence of immense watercourses - watercourses which are still, near their origin, favoured with a little water.
The rainfall in the first geographical division is pretty constant, and may reach a yearly average of about 22 in.
Over the second and third divisions the rainfall is less constant, and its yearly average may not exceed 17 in.
Occasionally two or three years may pass without any rainfall; then may come floods after a heavy downfall of a few weeks.
The rainfall varies greatly, but the mean is about 90 in.
The annual rainfall is nearly 30 in.
Agriculture is the principal occupation of its inhabitants, though the soil is generally sterile and the rainfall uncertain and very light.
The mean annual rainfall is about 50 in., ranging from 47.4 in.
Sugar, cotton, Indian corn, beans and considerable quantities of wheat are grown, but agriculture is largely hampered by the uncertainty of the rainfall.
Japan is emphatically a wet country so far as quantity of rainfall is concerned, the average for the whole country being 1570 mm.
While there can be no doubt that the luxuriance of Japans flora is due to rich soil, to high temperature and to rainfall not only plentiful but well distributed over the whole year, the wealth and variety of her trees and shrubs must be largell the result of immigration.
The rains usually begin at the end of June and last till the middle of September; average annual rainfall, 55 in.
The rainfall, however, after the eastern monsoons, is very heavy, and the island is liable to violent hurricanes.
The climate is hot and dry, the rainfall being too small to influence climatic conditions.
There is an abundant rainfall, but owing to the porous nature of the soil the water percolates into deep caves which have communication with the sea, and becomes brackish.
The rainfall is light in the lower regions and irrigation is generally employed.
Dunbar is said to have the smallest rainfall in Scotland and is a favourite summer resort.
The Blue Clay forms, at the higher levels, a stratum impervious to water, and holds up the rainfall, which soaks through the spongy mass of the superimposed coralline formations.
The average rainfall is in.; it is, however, uncertain; periods of drought have extended over three years.
The outlet was further examined in 1876 by Mr (afterwards Sir Henry) Stanley, who found that a bar had formed across the outlet, and it has since been proved that the outflow is intermittent, ceasing almost entirely after a period of scanty rainfall, and becoming again established when the lake-level has been raised by a series of rainy years.
In any case, the alterations in level appear to be merely periodic, and due to fluctuations in rainfall, and do not point, as some have supposed, to a secular drying up of the lake.
At the same time, any excessive local rainfall is productive of difficulty and danger from the floods of liquid mud and loose boulders which sweep like an avalanche down the hill sides.
The rainfall is on an average greater than in any province except those of the extreme north-west.
The annual rainfall, greater on the coast than inland, ranges from 40 to 45 in.
The Agricultural Experiment Station, at Newark, publishes in its Annual Report a record of temperature and rainfall.
A similar range occurs on the Dutch coast in the North Sea, where the maximum level is reached in October, the month of highest rainfall, and there is a range of 8 in.
Their experiments show that in similar conditions the evaporation of sea-water amounts to from 70 to 91% of the evaporation of fresh water, a fact of some importance in geophysics on account of the vast expanses of ocean the evaporation from which determines the rainfall and to a large extent the heat-transference in the atmosphere.
The climate is temperate, and the rainfall moderate.
The average annual rainfall decreases quite regularly westward and south-westward from 47.6 in.
Along the coast the autumn months are the wettest and the spring months are the driest; for example, at Galveston the rainfall amounts to 5.7 in.
In the middle, eastern and north-eastern parts of Texas the spring months are the wettest and the winter months are the driest; for example, at Waco the rainfall amounts to 4.5 in.
In the western and southwestern parts the summer months are the wettest and the spring months are the driest; thus, at El Paso the rainfall amounts to 2.2 in.
The rainfall is one of the lowest in the kingdom.
The rainfall is also very unequal in distribution throughout the year, as also between the same periods of different years, and as between the different parts of the state.
The rainfall is very heavy and usually exceeds i 50 inches.
The average annual rainfall is 40 in.
The warm currents setting landwards from the Indian Ocean bring both moisture and heat, so that the Swahili coast has a higher temperature and heavier rainfall than the Atlantic seaboard under the same parallels of latitude.
Kilimanjaro has a climate of its own; the west and south sides of the mountain receive the greatest rainfall, while the east and north sides are dry nearly all the year.
The rainfall on Ruwenzori and the central Semliki valley is quite loo in.
Like the districts round Lake Rudolf, the average altitude (near the Nile) is not more than 2000 ft., but the rainfall is more abundant than in the terrible Rudolf region, being an average of 30 in.
The annual rainfall at the same two places is 13.4 and 17.4 in.
The rainfall, however, is light, about 20 to 25 in., but, with the assistance of irrigation, it serves to sustain a considerable degree of cultivation in the neighbourhood of the city.
The rainfall in 1905 was 230 49 in.
The winds are very variable; the average number of rainy and snowy days is 146 at Riga (rainfall 24.1 in.).
The average rainfall is between 40 and 45 in., but it is less than 30 in.
Though, thanks to the overlaying porous pumice, the Taupo plateau is not fertile, it has a good rainfall and is drained by unfailing rivers running through deep terraced ravines.
The rainfall in most of the settled districts ranges from 30 to 50 ins.
Meteorological statistics are collected at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin and eight other stations; and observations of rainfall, temperature, and wind-directions are received from eighteen stations of the second class.
The climate is in general very hot and unhealthy, the rainfall being very heavy.
The flora is typical of a region of scanty rainfall.
The rainfall is sufficient for good grazing, but except in the Flathead valley cultivation was long considered to be dependent on irrigation; and consequently farming was only incidental to stock raising and mining until after 1870, and as late as 1900 the ratio of improved farm land to the total land area was less than in any other state or territory except New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona and Hawaii.
The streams flowing from the central area have cut deep gorges and canons, and among the ridges the granitic rocks have assumed many strange forms. Though rising from a semi-arid plateau, these mountains have sufficient rainfall to support an abundant plant growth, and have derived their name from the fact that their slopes are dark with heavy forests.
Owing to the northern latitude, comparatively high altitudes, and the great distance from the ocean, there are great annual variations of temperature and a very small amount of rainfall.
The average annual amount of rainfall for the state is about 20 in., ranging from 13.9 in.
The average amount of rainfall for the spring is 6 or 7 in.; for the summer, 8 or 9 in.; for the autumn, 3 or 4 in.; and for the winter, 1 or 2 in.
The climate, though somewhat relaxing, is healthy, but there is a scarcity of drinking water, the average annual rainfall being only 272 in.
The average annual rainfall is 78 inches.
Rainfall is light, the mean annual being 27'72 in.
The rainfall follows the valleys of the Mu and the Irrawaddy, and leaves the rest of the district comparatively dry.
While the rainfall is always below the normal amount for humid regions, by far the greater part of it occurs in the spring and summer, and growing crops receive the full benefit.
In seasons of high rainfall, the river can ascend 50 meters.
The full force of the monsoon is, however, broken by the western frontier hills; and while the rainfall at Mergui is over 180, and at Moulmein 240 in., that of Bangkok seldom exceeds 54, and Chiengmai records an average of about 42 in.
Puket and Chantabun, being both on a lee shore, in this season experience rough weather and a heavy rainfall; the latter, being farther from the equator, is the worse off in this respect.
Water-supply depends chiefly, therefore, on local rainfall.
In a few days, or at most a fortnight, after a rainfall numberless specimens of these sizes were found swimming about, " and as not a single one was to be found in the water-pools prior to the rain, these must have been developed from the egg."
The great warming and abundant rainfall of the island regions of the western Pacific, and the low temperature of the surface water in the east, cause a displacement of the southern tropical maximum of pressure to the east; hence we have a permanent " South Pacific anticyclone " close to the coast of South America.
The rainfall is abundant; in the western island groups there is no well-marked rainy season, but over the whole region the greater part of the rainfall takes place during the southern summer, even as far north as Hawaii.
In the trade-wind region we find the characteristic heavy rainfall on the weather sides of the islands, and a shorter rainy season at the season of highest sun on the lee side.
Buchan describes the island-studded portion of the western Pacific as the most extensive region of the globe characterized by an unusually heavy rainfall.
The normal rainfall is about 80 in., but as cloud-bursts are common, it may rise to 150 in.
The climate of Porthcawl is bracing, and the rainfall (averaging 25 in.) is about the lowest on the South Wales coast.
The climate, although healthy, is very changeable, with great extremes of temperature and heavy rainfall, especially in the summer.
Snow is unknown, and the average annual rainfall is 25.58 in.
Add to this the light rainfall on the plateau and a lack of forests, and we have conditions which make large rivers impossible.
This is due to the porosity of the soil in the former, and the very limited rainfall in the latter.
The relief of the land and varying degrees of rainfall and vegetation, however, serve to modify these conditions in many important particulars.
The rainfall is heavy in the south, except Yucatan, but diminishes gradually toward the north, until on the Pacific and Gulf of California coasts it almost disappears.
The heavy rainfall on the Gulf coast, however, which reaches a maximum of 90 to too in.
The rainfall is abundant in the rainy season, but in the long dry season it is extremely rare.
The coast is low and extremely arid, and would be uninhabitable were it not for the proximity of the Sierra Madre, where a light rainfall is experienced, and for the numerous rivers that cross the arid belt between the mountains and the sea.
The windward slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental receive the greater part of the rainfall, and the winds, deprived of their moisture, pass over the northern plateau without further precipitation.
The southern terraces of the plateau have no high mountain barriers between them and the moist winds of the Caribbean, and they too receive an abundant rainfall in the wet season, especially during the prevalence of heavy " northers " on the Gulf coast.
A fertile soil, abundant rainfall and high temperatures have covered these mountain slopes and lowland plains with a wealth of vegetation.
In the sierra regions of western Chihuahua and Durango, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi, and the plateau states farther south, the rainfall is more abundant and the conditions more favourable.
In the western regions the rainfall does not exceed 10 in.
The rainy season is the summer months, November to April, but the rains are irregular, and, from the causes already indicated, the rainfall is steadily declining.
The average rainfall is very heavy, especially on the Atlantic slope, where the prevailing winds are charged with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean Sea; at Tual, a high station on the Atlantic slope, it reaches 195 in.; in central Guatemala it is only 27 in.
Along parts of their eastern border, where the rainfall is a little increased by the approach of the westerly winds to the Rocky Mountains, there is a belt of very deep, impalpably fine soil, supposed to be a dust deposit brought from the drier parts of the plains farther west; excellent crops of wheat are here raised.
With this goes a general increase of precipitation with altitude, so that a good rainfall map would have its darker shades very generally along the mountain ranges.
Thus the heaviest measured rainfall east of the Mississippi is on the southern Appalachians; while in the west, where observations are as yet few at high level stations, the occurrence of forests and pastures on the higher slopes of mountains which rise from desert plains clearly testifies to the same rule.
The rainfall from the stromy westerly winds is largely deposited on the western slopes of the mountains near the Pacific coast, and arid or desert interior plains are thus found close to the great ocean.
The ranges of the Rocky Mountains in their turn receive some rainfall from the passing winds, but it is only after the westerlies are reinforced by a moist indraft from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlanticthe result of summer or of cyclonic inflowthat rainfall increases to a sufficient measure on the lower lands to support agriculture without irrigation.
The region east of the Mississippi is singularly favored in this way; for it receives a good amount of rainfall, well distribu ted through the year, and indeed is in this respect one of the largest regions in the temperate zones that are so well watered.
The Great Plains are under correspondingly unfavourable conditions, for their scanty rainfall is of very variable amount.
Along the transition belt between plains and prairies the climate is peculiarly trying as to rainfall; one series of five or ten years may have sufficient rainfall to enable the farmers to gather good crops; but the next series following may be so dry that the crops fail year after year.
The district is highly fertile and is well watered, owing in great measure to its abundant rainfall.
In Quebec and northern Ontario the rainfall is diminished, ranging from 20 to 40 in., while the snows of winter are deep and generally cover the ground from the beginning of December to the end of March.
The climate of the Cordilleran region presents even more variety than that of the other provinces because of the ranges of mountains which run parallel to the Pacific. Along the coast itself the climate is insular, with little frost in winter and mild heat in summer, and with a very heavy rainfall amounting to ioo in.
The Selkirk Mountains have a heavy rainfall and a tremendous snowfall on their western flanks, but very much less precipitation on their eastern side.
One is situated at Lethbridge, southern Alberta, where problems will be investigated concerning agriculture upon irrigated land and dry farming under conditions of a scanty rainfall.
Every year there are, normally, two distinct periods of high water; one an early freshet due mainly to the heavy winter rainfall on the lower river, when the upper river is still frozen hard; the other in the late spring, due to the setting in of rains along the upper courses also, and to the melting of the snow in the mountains.
The average rainfall for the state is 49.3 in.; the maximum is 71.7 in., at Rabun Gap in the extreme N.E.
The rainfall averages 34 in.
The Yeres, a tributary of the Seine, and the Grand Morin and Petit Morin, tributaries of the Marne, are the chief rivers, but the region is not abundantly watered and the rainfall is only between 20 and 24 in.
The annual rainfall is about 302 in.
The climate is temperate and the rainfall usually adequate, but one year in five is expected to be droughty.
The average annual rainfall is about 23.5 in.; but this varies greatly in different districts.
The rainfall is unusually heavy.
An abundant rainfall during the growing season is also a desideratum.
Among the natural causes may be classed all failures of crops due to excess or defect of rainfall and other meteorological phenomena, or to the ravages of insects and vermin.
It is less easy to provide against the evils of excessive rainfall and of frost, hail and the like.
It is impossible to regulate the rainfall of any district, or wholly to supply its failure by any system of water-storage.
Every year sufficient rain falls in India to secure an abundant harvest if it were evenly distributed over the whole country; but as a matter of fact the distribution is so uneven and so uncertain that every year some district suffers from insufficient rainfall.
But beyond the sphere of irrigation, where the land is dependent on the rainfall, there is much rough stony ground broken by great fissures cut by flood-water from the border hills.
Both sources of supply are precarious, and instances are not infrequent of the almost entire failure of either the winter or the summer rainfall.
The average rainfall is 30 in., but the period 1891-1901 was a decade of low rainfall, and distress was caused by famine.
The average rainfall is 28 in.
The rainfall averages 23 in.
The greatest recorded extremes of local rainfall for a year within the larger islands range from 12 to 300 in.
For Honolulu the mean annual rainfall (1884-1899) was 28.18 in.; the maximum 49.82; and the minimum 13.46.
In regions of heavy rainfall the ohia-lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), a tree growing from 30 to 100 ft.
As they lie near or under the equator, the monsoons blowing over them are less regular, and the rainfall, of large volume throughout the year, is dependent on the height and direction of the chains.
Fraser (Short Cut to India, p. 1 34) insists that in the undulating plains the direct rainfall is quite sufficient for agricultural purposes.
The average annual rainfall is 44 in.
The amount of rainfall during the summer is about 3 in.
The climate is mild and the rainfall more abundant than at the northern part of the valley, and the effects of this are to be seen in the better pasturage.
Snow falls early and lies late in the mountains, and there is a heavy rainfall in the north-west.
The rainfall rarely exceeds io in.
The total rainfall in 1905 was 34.76 in., taken at Sagaing.
At Kupang, on the south coast, the number of rainy days per month in the six months May to October dwindles from 4 to o, while the monthly rainfall gradually sinks from a little less than 2 in.
Its waters are mainly collected from the rainfall upon the plateaux, and from the hot springs and geysers, most of which are within its drainage area.
Here the rainfall for the year increases from the southern and northern extremities towards the middle.
Here, too, the prevailing rainfall is brought by the north-west monsoon, but in this belt its prevalence is not so pronounced, Padang getting 94 in.
The mountain chain immediately overhanging it, the high temperature of the sea washing it,,the frequent thunderstorms to which it is subject, the moist atmosphere of its equatorial situation, and the shorter regime of the dry south-east wind are the principal causes of the heavier rainfall on the west coast.
The higher stations of middle Sumatra, on the lee side of the western mountain chain, have a yearly rainfall of only 78.7 in.
The mean annual barometric height is 29.93 in.; the mean annual moisture, 81%; the mean annual rainfall, 27.99 in.
The prevalence of south-west winds during nine months of the year and of north-west during three (April - June) has a strong influence on the temperature and rainfall, tides, river mouths and outlets, and also, geologically, on dunes and sand drifts, and on fens and the accumulation of clay on the coast.
The rainfall in 1905 was 80.30 in.
Its situation is very beautiful, the moist climate (mean annual rainfall, 74 in.) fostering on the steep surrounding hills a vegetation unusually luxuriant for the latitude.
As there is no highland area draining into Kordofan, the underground reservoirs are dependent on the local rainfall, and a large number of the wells are dry during many months.
The annual rainfall is about 46 in., fairly well distributed throughout the year, though the heaviest precipitation occurs in August, September and October.
The climate resembles that of Great Britain, but the winters are generally more severe; the mean annual temperature is 48 F., and the annual rainfall is about 28 in.
In "cold deserts" the want of vegetation is wholly due to the prevailing low temperature, while in "hot deserts" the surface is unproductive because, on account of high temperature and deficient rainfall, evaporation is largely in excess of precipitation.
The rainfall chiefly occurs in violent cloudbursts, and the soluble matter in the soil is carried down by intermittent streams to salt lakes around which deposits are formed as evaporation takes place.
Streams are few and the rainfall is scanty, averaging only 16 in.
In any case results deduced from the annual wave must be expected to vary in different years according to the distribution of the rainfall, as the values represent averages depending chiefly on the diffusion of heat by percolating water.
But it often happens that, although there is sufficient rainfall to raise an inferior crop, there is not enough to raise a more valuable one.
Elsewhere the rainfall may be sufficient for ordinary crops, but not for the more valuable kinds.
Elsewhere in India the rainfall is usually sufficient for all the cultivation of the district, but about every eleven years comes a season of drought, during which canal water is so precious as to make it worth while to construct costly canals merely to serve as a protection against famine.
The Godaveri, Kistna and Kaveri all take their rise on the Western Ghats, a region where the rainfall is never known to fail in the monsoon season.
The engineer must not decide upon the plan till he has gauged at different seasons the stream which has to supply the water, and has ascertained the rain-collecting area available, and the rainfall of the district, as well as the proportion of storable to percolating and evaporating water.
Character- As every one knows, the valley of the Nile outside of Istics of the tropics is practically devoid of rainfall.
This increase was not due to famine in Sind, for that rainless province depends always on the Indus, as Egypt does on the Nile, and where there is no rainfall there can be no drought.
The water is there in abundance, the land is well adapted for irrigation, but as there is a considerable rainfall, it is doubtful whether the scheme would prove remunerative, and a large section of the landowners have hitherto opposed it, as likely to waterlog the country.
The canal system of Orissa was never expected to be remunerative, since in five years out of six the local rainfall is sufficient for the rice crop. In1878-1879the area irrigated was 111,250 acres, and the outlay up to date was Rx.1,750,000.
The rainfall on the west very much exceeds that on the east, and the Periyar used to find its way by a short torrent course to the sea, rendering no service to mankind.
In addition to all these great engineering systems, southern India is covered with minor works of irrigation, some drawn from springs in the sandy beds of rivers, some from the rainfall of 2 sq.
The rainfall was very deficient in 18 9518 97, causing famine in 1897; and in 1899-1900 there was drought in some sections.
The rainfall is about 70 in.
Although there are very considerable differences in the range of temperature and the amount of rainfall throughout Germany, these are not so great as they would be were it not that the elevated plateaus and mountain chains are in the south, while the north is occupied by low-lying plains.
As regards rainfall, Germany belongs to those regions where precipitation takes place at all seasons, but chiefly in the form of summer rains.
The rainfall is greatest in the Bavarian tableland and the hilly regions of western Germany.
Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and Lusatia, Saxony and the plateau of Thuringia, West Prussia, Posen and lower Silesia are also to be classed among the more arid regions of Germany, the annual rainfall being 16 to 20 in.
The annual rainfall except on the higher mountains does not reach 30 in., and, as in other parts of the extreme south of Europe, it occurs chiefly in the winter months, while the three months (June, July and August) are almost quite dry.
During these months the whole rainfall does not exceed 2 in., except on the slopes of the mountains in the north-east.
Owing to the slight rainfall, and the rapid weathering of the rocks by the great range of teniperature, these hills rise steeply from the valleys at their feet as almost bare rock, supporting hardly any vegetation.
Records at Cairo show that the rainfall is very irregular, and is furnished by occasional storms rather than by any regular rainy season; still, most falls in the winter months, especially December and January, while, on the other hand, none has been recorded in June and July.
The average annual rainfall does not exceed I 50 in.
The desert was full of wild life, the balance of nature being preserved by the carnivorous animals preying on the herbivorous; trees watered by soakage from the Nile protected the undergrowth and encouraged occasional rainfall.
More than half the rainfall occurs from July to November, the wettest month being September, with an average of 2.95 in.; the driest month is April, with an average of 1 14 in.
The climate of Transylvania is healthy; hot summers alternate with very cold winters, but the rainfall is not great.
A few algae approach the ordinary terrestrial plants in their capacity to live in a sub-aerial habitat subject only to such occasional supplies of water as is afforded by the rainfall.
The rainfall averages 223 in.
Perhaps the cause is to be sought mainly in differences of rainfall.
No doubt, too, the preponderance of rainfall in the west has persisted for an enormous period.
How powerfully the configuration affects the climate is shown in the remarkable difference between the rainfall of the mountainous west and of the lowland east.
The south-west prevails from July to October, and again from December to February; accordingly in these months the rainfall is heaviest.
On the other hand, the climates of the east are dry, because the surface is lower and more level; and the breezes borne thither from the west, being robbed of most of their superabundant moisture in crossing the western hills, are drier and precipitate a greatly diminished rainfall.
In these districts the annual rainfall averages 26 in., whereas over extensive breadths in the west it exceeds too in., in Glencroe being nearly 130 in., and on the top of Ben Nevis it may reach 150 in.
The rainfall of Singapore for 1906 was 129.64 in.; the heaviest rainfall for any one month being 15.23 in.
The water-supply is rarely abundant, and agriculture is more or less dependent on an uncertain rainfall.
The rainfall (1904) is 75.3 in.
Travancore has an abundant rainfall, with every variety of temperature.
Farther north the rainfall becomes heavier, the plateau is covered with vegetation, and a considerable number of small rivers flow westward through the Cordillera to the Pacific. The Eastern Cordillera, or Andes, forms the water-parting between the two systems. The largest of the eastward-flowing rivers is the Napo, which rises in the eastern defiles of Cotopaxi and Sincholagua - the principal source being the Rio del Valle, which traverses the Valle Vicioso.
In addition to the climatic changes due to altitude, there are others caused by local arid conditions, by volcanic influences and by the influence of mountain ranges on the temperature and rainfall of certain districts.
There is no great display of arboreal vegetation anywhere except in the valleys and lower passes where the rainfall is abundant, but in general terms it may be said that the rainfall and vegetation which characterize the Quito basin soon disappear as one proceeds southward, and are substituted by arid conditions.
On the eastern slopes of the Andes, where the rainfall is continuous throughout the year and the atmosphere is surcharged with moisture, the forest growth is phenomenal.
In the north and west the rainfall is greater than on the south and east coasts.
As is to be expected, the rainfall on the peninsula is somewhat greater than on the Arab coast.
The rainfall amounts to 56 in.
The rainfall is rather lower than among the mountains.
The rainfall is about 28 in., sometimes less, and in exceptional years as much as 10 in.
It is distinguished by its low rainfall and arid soil.
The average rainfall is 85.54 in.
Indeed, the special feature of the Himalayas is that they send down the rainfall from their northern as well as from their southern slopes to the Indian plains.
In this way the rainfall, alike from the northern and southern slopes of the Himalayas, pours down into the river plains of Bengal.
Through these openings the rainfall of the southern half of the inner plateau reaches the sea.
The Nerbudda and Tapti carry the rainfall of the southern slopes of the Vindhyas and of the Satpura hills, in almost parallel lines, into the Gulf of Cambay.
As far south as Sirsa and Multan the average rainfall does not much exceed 7 in.
The climate of these plains is damp and equable, and the rainfall is prolonged and generally heavy, especially on the southern slopes of the hills.
Together with the two parallel valleys of the Nerbudda and Tapti, which drain the flanks of its western half, it gives, at opposite seasons of the year, a decided easterly and westerly direction to the winds of this part of India, and condenses a tolerably copious rainfall during the south-west monsoon.
This range exerts an important influence on the direction of the wind, and also on the rainfall.
This plateau is swept by the south-west monsoon, but not until it has surmounted the western barrier of the Ghats; and hence the rainfall is, as a rule, light at Poona and places similarly situated under the lee of the range, and but moderate over the more easterly parts of the plateau.
The country to the east of the gap receives the rainfall of the south-west monsoon; and during the north-east monsoon ships passing Beypur meet with a stronger wind from the land than is felt elsewhere on the Malabar coast.
In the strip of low country that fringe