Abstract
THE annual report of the Meteorological Department of the Department of Agriculture of Southern Rhodesia for the year ended June 30, 1934, follows the general lines of previous reports (Salisbury: Department of Agriculture, 1934). In the rainy season of 1933-34, as in that of the preceding season, there was substantially less rain than usual, although the formula used for predicting the season's fall had indicated an excess of rain. During the five years for which this computation has been made, this was the first occasion on which the sign of the departure from the normal was not correctly given by the formula. An Aircraft Weather Service that had been organised for Imperial Airways operated satisfactorily during this year, and it was decided to extend the service to all aircraft. Arrangements were made to transfer the observatories at Salisbury and Bulawayo to the aerodromes, where they will be maintained by a staff of two, who will prepare regular weather reports and forecasts, and make observations of the upper winds. According to the report, the provision of an adequate weather service for aircraft is now regarded as the most important function of the Meteorological Department. The number of tables in the report has been reduced owing to financial stringency; but among those included is an interesting one showing the average Rhodesian rainfall for thirty-six years. In the first season, 1898-99, the fall was based on the records of seven rain-gauges, and in the most recent (1933-34), on three hundred and forty-four.
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Meteorology of Southern Rhodesia. Nature 136, 751 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136751a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136751a0