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Taking a period of ten years, and comparing the following inland
watering-places, it will be seen that, on the whole, Harrogate
stands well. If the reader will glance at the table of comparison,
he will see that it is so. Its dryness, from this point of view,
is therefore established. The calculations are taken from Symons'
British Rainfall, giving the average annual rainfall and number of
days on which 1/100in. or more of rain fell.
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE.
Rainfall and "Rainy Days," 1888 to
1897 inclusive.
From SYMONS'
British Rainfall.
| |
10 Years’
Average
Rainfall.
Inches |
10 Years’
Average
Rainy
Days.
No. |
Observers |
|
Leamington |
21.86 |
160 |
Burnitt, on the parade |
|
Cheltenham |
25.10 |
172.3 |
Kaye, Smelt, Tyner, and others |
|
Great Malvern |
25.41 |
153.8 |
Mander, Munn, Crump |
|
Tunbridge Wells |
28.38 |
168 |
Weston, Winton |
|
HARROGATE |
28.78 |
193 |
Wilson, Farrah, Dixon, Gledhill, Paul |
|
Matlock Bath |
29.51 |
Not given |
Chadwick |
|
Bath |
31.46 |
157.6 |
Weston, Gilby, Institute |
|
Clifton |
32.66 |
176.5 |
Burder, Rintoul, Bridge, Sturge |
|
Ilkley |
34.81 |
168 |
Worfolk, Richardson |
|
Buxton |
48.6 |
214.2 |
Thresh, Beck, R Met Soc, and others |
|
Means |
30.65 |
173.7 |
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Harrogate stands on a plateau 400 to 500 feet above the sea.
This does not necessarily detract from its dryness.
Other considerations have to be taken into account, and
Harrogate, fortunately, is happy in these. The rainfall in any
locality is determined by its mountainous surroundings.
Hilly outposts of any place materially modify the rainfall, and
affect the dryness of it, especially if their ridges run at right
angles to the direction of the winds which generally bring the
rain.
The Pennine Range, with its various spurs, on which stand
Skipton, Ilkley, and Otley, forms an outer rampart to check the
moisture-laden winds coming from the Irish Sea on the west. These
winds, charged with invisible moisture, strike the spurs of the
Pennine Range in their approach to Harrogate, more or less at
right angles, and in doing so, they rise into a region of lower
temperature, in proportion to the velocity with which they,
travel, and the contained moisture is condensed and precipitated
as rain on the tops of the hills and on the immediate ground of
the lee side.
The air gets warmer by the act of falling on the lee side, and
is necessarily drier. The south, south-west, and west winds are
the rain-carrying ones in these parts, and having to pass over
these mountain spurs, they thus exhaust their humidity to a great
extent before they reach Harrogate. The rivers Wharfe and Aire are
in this way fed by the expended efforts of moisture-laden winds
passing over their watersheds, and Harrogate is left drier.
Witness the respective rainfalls of Ilkley and Harrogate.
Absence of rivers and the geological formation of the subsoil
also conduce to the general dryness of the atmosphere in
Harrogate.
For the most part, the millstone grit overspreads Harrogate
generally, but the Yoredale series prevails in Low Harrogate, and
these are both of an absorbent nature in themselves, especially
millstone grit, besides which the rocks in many places present
their truncated edges upwards, and so act as conduits to lead
the rainfall under the surface. And this they do in a marvellously
short time.
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