Page:Handbook of Western Australia.djvu/64

50 Prevailing winds January to May, E. a.m. and W. p.m.; June, W. and N.W.; July, E. and N.E.; August, W. and N.W.; September to January, S.W. and W.

At Breaksea Island, King George's Sound, the averages from observations taken at the lighthouse during four years, from 1873 to 1876, were:—


 * Barometer, highest, 30·156 inches in November
 * Do., lowest, 29·010  do.  June
 * Thermometer, highest, 80 in February
 * Do., lowest, 45 in June and October

At Champion Bay the highest range of the thermometer for three years was before a storm in the month of March, viz., 110°, the highest ordinary range was 104 in January, the lowest 44 in July. In the North-West district the thermometer had risen in a tent to 115° and in a room to 110°. The lowest range observed by Mr. Sholl was 48°, he also observed, during the hurricane of 1872, the mercury in the barometer fell to 28·96 inches; this is of course an extreme case, the highest known reading has been 30·35 inches.

The prevailing winds are on the South coast from S.E. to S.W., variable, but more Easterly during the summer. On the West Coast from November to March; Easterly in the morning and blowing fresh from the S.W. in the afternoon; the Southerly winds are cold; and during this period the Easterly winds are hot. A hot wind sometimes blows from the East for two or three days in succession. During the winter months the Easterly winds are cold, the winds are variable, calms frequent, generally preceding gales with wind and rain from the N.W.; these commence in the East and die out when they have worked round to the West. Exceptional gales are experienced from the East as well as from the West.