AnnualReport-1914

E 4-

hour was 42 miles at 11 a.m. on September 3. The maximum squall velocity on this day, as recorded by the Dines-Baxendell anemograph, was at the rate of 47.9 m.p.h. at 9h 52m a.m. The maximum squall velocity for the year was at the rate of 55.4 m.p.h. at 4h 10m a.m. on July 9.

Rainfall at four Stations.--In the following table the monthly rainfall at the Observatory is compared with the fall at the Police Station, Taipo; the Botanical Gardens; and the Matilda Hospital, Mount Kellet.

Months. Observatory (Kowloon). Police Station (Taipo). Botanical Gardens (Hongkong). Matilda Hospital (Hongkong). January, 0.000 inches. 0.000 inches. 0.000 inches. 0.000 inches. February, 3.240 4.310 3.040 2.620 March, 1.190 1.690 1.540 1.300 April, 4.465 5.730 5.920 4.950 May, 12.620 13.590 13.480 9.800 June 12.225 13.320 12.660 13.150 July, 26.305 34.270 23.370 22.420 August, 4.205 5.320 6.130 3.530 September, 19.980 22.410 21.020 25.250 October, 6.450 4.750 10.670 10.320 November, 8.815 11.580 9.100 9.260 December, 0.720 1.130 1.120 0.770 Year, 100.215 118.100 108.050 103.370

Typhoons.-Six typhoons passed within 300 miles of Hongkong during the year, but no destructive winds were experienced. The greatest squall velocities were at the rate of 55.4 m.p.h. at 4h 10m a.m. on July 9, and 47.9 m.p.h. at 9h 52m a.m. on September 3. The tracks of 16 typhoons and 6 of the more important depressions which occurred in the Far East in 1914 are shown in two plates in the monthly Meteorological Bulletin for December, 1914.

One

From August 19 to September 5 there was a shallow depression over the China Sea in which a series of typhoons formed. passed about 100 miles to the south of Hongkong on an ENE track on August 24, remaining nearly stationary on the 25th and 26th, at a distance of about 120 miles E by S of Hongkong. It appeared at the time, from the available information, that this typhoon formed to the West of the Bashi Channel and moved North-westward.

A typhoon formed over the Batan Islands on the morning of September 19, and after moving towards the Pescadores for about 24 hours, curved sharply to the South-west and approached to within...