23
rainfall for twenty-seven years is 49.6 inches. As shown by the diagram, the months of heaviest precipitation are September and August, but in every month except February an average of over 3 inches of rain has fallen. This is fairly typical of the distribution of rainfall along the Gulf coast. The diagram next above this is for Austin, where the average rainfall for thirty-nine years is 33.4 inches. Here, also, there is an excess of precipitation in September, and a second maximum in May. Relatively to these months, June, July, and August are somewhat dry; but in every month throughout the year there has fallen an average of over 2 inches of rain.
The next diagram in fig. 2 above that for Austin is that for Fort Clark or Brackettville. This is constructed from the average for twenty-nine years. The mean annual rainfall is 22.7 inches. Fort Clark is remote from the coast, and the distribution of its rainfall, though somewhat similar to that at Austin, having maxima in September and May, shows reduction in quantity, especially during the winter months. Next above the diagram for Fort Clark is that for Fort Elliott, situated far up in the Panhandle of Texas, near the Oklahoma line. Here the quantity and distribution are fairly typical of the Great Plains area. The diagram is derived from the mean of observations extending over eleven years and giving an annual average of 23.2 inches: The month of greatest rainfall is May, September being below the average. The rainy season may be said to extend from April to August.
In the upper part of fig. 2 are two diagrams illustrating the typical distribution of rain in Trans-Pecos Texas. This has been named by General Greely the Mexican type of rainfall. In these, particularly in the diagram for Fort Davis, obtained from twenty-six years' observations, the rainfall is seen to increase regularly from February to August and then to decrease rapidly to the end of the year. The greater part of the precipitation occurs during
"Nat. Geog. Mag., Vol. V, 1893, p. 51.










