Abstract
MB. J. W. HOPKENTS has recently published a paper, entitled “Agricultural Meteorology: Some Characteristics of Precipitation in Saskatchewan and Alberta”, in which it is apparent that the author's investigations and their results may have a wider application than the merely agricultural (Canadian J. Res., 14, No. 9, Sept. 1936). In previous agricultural meteorological investigations, Mr. Hopkins demonstrated statistically significant correlations between annual variations in rainfall and temperature, and the yield and nitrogen content of wheat crops grown in central and southern Saskatchewan and Alberta. In the present paper, the author gives the results of a study complementary to the previous one, dealing with some average characteristics of the seasonal precipitation in these districts, and also analysing the fluctuations which past experience has shown to occur from year to year in the precipitation at a given place, and from place to place in the same district during a given year. The investigations appear to be based on observations carried on between 1898 and 1934, the stations being Edmonton, Calgary, Battleford and Swift Current. “In spite of irregularities, to be expected in the limited sample of years available,” says the author, “the frequency of distribution of seasonal precipitation at the stations showed no gross asymmetry, seasons with precipitation in the vicinity of the average being on the whole more numerous.” The average (1916-32) percentage of days on which rain fell showed a distinct seasonal trend during spring and summer, being lowest in April and highest in June. Similar variation was noted in the average amount of rain per rainy day, which was lowest in April and highest in June and July. It would be of interest if in future observations some data could be collected on the subject of the possible influence of the forests on the atmospherical moisture content in these regions.
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Agricultural Meteorology. Nature 139, 145–146 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139145d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139145d0