Meteorological Records of Southport

Abstract

FEW towns possess such accurate and long meteorological records as Southport. This is largely due to the late Mr. Joseph Baxendell, whose work has been carried on and extended by his son, for many years meteorologist to the Southport Corporation. Each year's records are summarised and discussed in an annual report; the report for the year 1931 has recently been published. There is a number of tables in these reports which differ in form from any of those appearing in the annual summaries of the Meteorological Office, and these add greatly to the value of the series. Among them may be mentioned those showing rainfall with different wind directions, diurnal variation of the duration of sunshine (totals for each hour of the day for each month) and mean level of subsoil water. This last table is a particularly interesting one. It has been maintained for forty-nine years, first of all by the late Mr. J. Baxendell at a private house in Liverpool Road, Birkdale, and later at 34 Kent Road, Birkdale, by Mr. James France and his wife. The record unfortunately ends at the close of the year under review, but alongside the last set of monthly figures appears similar information for the recently established meteorological station at Bedford Road Park, which is in the same part of Southport. To those not very familiar with this subject these single year's observations are not without interest, as they show differences of response to the meteorological conditions in spite of the proximity of the two wells used for making the measurements. June 1931 was very wet at Southport—5.99 inches of rain fell at Bedford Road Park—and the mean level of water in the shallower well at the older site rose in June almost to its February value, which was by no means the case at the other deeper well. The last six months of 1931 yielded altogether substantially more than the normal rainfall, but the average level of the shallower well almost returned to its normal value.