Abstract
THE variation of rain at Geneva Observatory in spring (March to May), through a long series of years, appears to have been subject to a certain periodicity, to which it might be well to draw attention, even if its (considerable) similarity to that of the sun-spot curve should prove to be merely of a fortuitous nature. In the accompanying diagram, I have dealt with both rainfall and rain days (rain hours would have been better than rain days, but these extend back only to 1861). The dotted-line curve shows the actual variation in the annual number of rain days, and the continuous curve with it is the result of smoothing with avenges of five. Above is a similarly smoothed curve of the spring rainfall, which is very similar (the actual variations are not given). Below is the inverted sun-spot curve. The letters a, b, c, connect the curves with their respective vertical scales on the left. It will be seen that, the sun-spot minima occurring in 1843, 1856, 1867, 1878, and 1889, we have in the smoothed rain curves, maxima in 1847 or 1848 (but note that the curves rise nearly as high in 1844), in 1857, in 1867, in 1878, and in 1889. In the case of the sun-spot maxima (the earlier at least) there seems to be more “lag.”
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
M., A. On Spring Rains in Geneva. Nature 50, 475 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/050475d0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/050475d0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.