Abstract
To the meteorologist the recent discussions in Parliament and out of it regarding the salubriousness or insalubriousness of the climate of Cyprus hare been, if not instructive, at least amusing, the amusement arising from the circumstance that positive information was not forthcoming in support of the strong statements made on both sides. Thanks, however, to the Scottish Meteorological Society, we have trustworthy information on the subject, that Society having established there one of its foreign climatological stations in 1866, where, for about four years, observations were made by Mr. J. B. Sandwith, H.M. Vice-Consul, and the results regularly published in the Society's Journal. Summarising these results, we learn that the annual rainfall is about 14 inches, nearly the whole of which falls from November to April, notably in November and December, that no rain falls in June, July, and August, and only trifling amounts, but occurring rarely, in May and September. There is thus practically five rainless months in the year in Cyprus, the rainless summers being a feature in its climate common, as we have recently had occasion to remark, to the climates of the Mediterranean regions south of latitude 43° (NATURE, vol. xviii. p. 287). Comparing it with the coasts of Syria opposite, its winters are milder and its summers cooler; and the decidedly insular character of its climate is further apparent from the fact that the coldest month is February, with a mean temperature of 52°.8, being about equal to that of London in the middle of May, and that the mean temperature of August is nearly as high as that of July, both being about 81°.0, which is approximately the summer temperature of Algiers, Alexandria, Athens, and Constantinople. During these four years the highest recorded temperature in the shade during any of the months was g6°.o, except June, 1869, when, from the 21st to the 25th, the mean temperature at Alethriko, 3½ miles inland from Larnaka, reached 95°.5, being about the average summer temperature of the Punjab, rising on the 24th to a maximum of 105°.0. On the same day the temperature rose to 100°.0 at Larnaka, and to 103°.5 at Jerusalem, 2,500 feet above the sea, the period being characterised as one of unprecedented heat and drought over the whole of the regions bordering the Levant. It is obvious to remark that much may be done in mitigation of the effects of the summer heat, just as has been done in countries similarly circumstanced, by the establishment of sanataria among the mountains, and by carrying through agricultural improvements and engineering works, which would at the same time contribute to the material prosperity of the island.
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METEOROLOGICAL NOTES . Nature 18, 335–336 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/018335a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/018335a0