Abstract
DR. OTTO KRÜMMEL publishes a paper in the current number of the journal of the Gesellschaft für Erdkunde of Berlin, on the distribution of the rainfall of Europe, illustrated by a well-executed map of seven colours, which show the regions where the annual rainfall does not exceed 9′8 inches (25 ctm.), is from 9′8 to 15′7 inches, from 15′7 to 21′7 inches, &c., the deepest tint covering all those regions where the rainfall exceeds 39′4 inches (100 ctm.). The map exhibits in a striking manner the small rainfall in the east and the heavy rainfall in the-west; the markedly reduced rainfall of such mountainsheltered plains as those which surround Paris, Clermont, Mannheim, Prague, Pressburg, and the great plain of Hungary; the large rainfall of the slopes of the Caucasus, which stands out in strong contrast with that of the arid regions all round; and the exceptional rainfall of Spain, which presents on the map a picturesque patchwork of all the seven colours representative of the wettest down to the driest regions portrayed on the map. The most important feature, however, is the partition of Europe into two divisions, by a waved line lying about the forty-third degree of latitude, the southern division being characterised by a rainless or all but rainless summer, and the northern by rain all the year round, where an absolutely rainless month is of rare occurrence. Slight exception may be taken to the rainfall set down for Iceland, Holland, and portions of the east of Scotland and west of Norway, as being a little too large, but on the whole the map is an admirable piece of work.
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METEOROLOGICAL NOTES . Nature 18, 287–288 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/018287b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/018287b0