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British Rainfall 1896 page 21
Station VIII. as VIII. was above VII., viz., about 400 ft.; but like Station VI. it is on the N.E. side of the watershed line, and, between Station VIII. at 1,077 ft. and Station IX. at 1,472 ft., though they are not half-a-mile apart, the land rises to nearly 1,700 ft., and it is probably this ridge which makes the rainfall at Styehead Tarn about 125 inches - practicaly the same as at Sprinkling Tarn (VI.)
STATION X. Great Gabel. One of Dr. Miller's stations, and not subsequently used. It is the summit of the watershed line, not quite so lofty as Sca Fell Pike, but somewhat similar in general position, and with about the same rainfall or slightly less - 81 inches.
STATION XI. The Stye - In order to avoid confusion, we have given a single number (XI.) to this station; which may be regarded as a strip of nearly level ground about 200 yards long and 30 yards wide, running from N.W. to S.E., on the N.E. slope of the hill, but not on a precipitous part thereof. Several gauges have been used, and at the present time we have four there, in the positions shown by the letters A B C D upon the enlarged map.
In order to distinguish the records we shall refer to these gauges by the old English alphabet [*].
XI. AA. - This gauge was erected by Dr. Miller in 1850, because the observer at Seathwaite (Mr. Dixon) told him that it often rained on The Stye when no rain fell at Seathwaite. It is impossible now to be absolutely certain as to the position of this gauge, but it was probably very close to, or actually on, the spot now occupied by gauge XI B, because Mr. Fletcher's gauges were not put up until December 1863; and yet on the 6-inch Ordnance Map, which was surveyed in 1862, a rain gauge is marked as occupying that spot. It will be seen from Table I. that gauge XI. AA was observed until 1858, and probably it was left uncared for, and found by the surveyors four years later. In the very first year, which happened to be one of average rainfall, this gauge collected 169.62 in., thus thoroughly confirming Mr. Dixon's statement.
The mean indicated by this gauge was 150 inches; but, before passing on, it will be well to call attention to the extremely small rainfall in the years 1855-6-7, viz., 99.16, 113.11 and 116.20 in. respectively. Strange and utterly unlike any subsequent records as these returns are, there seems to be no doubt that they are correct. The fall of rain in the English Lakes for the six years 1853-58, both
* English black letter is not in the default character sets available in Windows and will not display on an off-the-shelf PC. To keep the meanings clear the letter has been doubled, thus black letter A is transcribed as AA.
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