Meteorological report for the year 1885
T. Irvine Rowell, Principal Civil Medical Officer of the Straits Settlements, compiled this official meteorological report for 1885, originally published in the Government Gazette and reprinted in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. The document presents systematic observations of atmospheric pressure, temperature, radiation, humidity, wind, and rainfall across four recording stations—Singapore, Penang, Province Wellesley, and Malacca—and situates the year’s data within a growing multi-decadal record beginning in 1870.
Summary
The report is structured around seven meteorological elements, each presented as comparative tables across the four Settlements, followed by narrative commentary on the year’s weather character. Rowell’s central analytical interest lies in rainfall: he identifies 1885 as “a very dry one” for Singapore (mean 67.32 inches), second only to 1877 in aridity, while Penang and Province Wellesley experienced unusually wet years. He draws attention to a recurring pattern in the Singapore rainfall record—large annual falls appearing at intervals of roughly eight to ten years, with above-average but lesser falls at approximately five-year intervals—and speculates on whether the island’s deforestation (which he notes was “happily now checked”) has materially affected local precipitation, concluding that given Singapore’s low topography and position relative to both monsoons, the effect is likely modest (pp. 388–389).
The report also documents the expansion of the colonial rainfall observation network, which grew from 11 to 29 registering stations between 1884 and 1885, with new sites established at the Botanic Gardens, Neidpath, Chasseriau’s Estate, Bukit Timah, and seven locations in Malacca. Rowell acknowledges the contributions of private landholders and officials who maintained rain gauges at their properties, reflecting the ad hoc, administratively distributed nature of colonial scientific infrastructure in the Straits (pp. 388–389, 391).
The annual abstracts and rainfall registers that follow the narrative provide the raw monthly data for each station, and the report closes with a series of charts plotting mean annual pressure, temperature, rainfall, and number of rainy days at Singapore from 1870 to 1885—visualisations Rowell describes as gaining “importance every year” as the dataset accumulates (p. 384).
Key Findings
- Singapore’s mean annual rainfall for 1885 was 67.32 inches across 134 rainy days, making it the second-driest year on record after 1877; the maximum monthly fall was 16.37 inches at the Sepoy Lines in December, and the greatest 24-hour fall was 6.10 inches on 20 December at the same station (pp. 388–389).
- Penang recorded a mean rainfall of 110.81 inches, an increase of 24.79 inches over 1884; the greatest 24-hour fall was 6.93 inches at Government Hill on 12 July, and the greatest monthly fall was 28.89 inches in September at the same station (p. 389).
- Province Wellesley’s mean rainfall was 106.29 inches (against 80.60 in 1884); the greatest 24-hour fall was 5.60 inches at Bertam on 14 October, and October was the wettest month at 21.03 inches (p. 389).
- The highest air temperature recorded in the Straits was 98.0°F at Province Wellesley on 9 January; the lowest was 63.4°F at Singapore on 10 February. The highest solar radiation reading was 175.0°F at Malacca on 14 February (pp. 384–385).
- The total number of rainfall registering stations in the Straits rose to 29 in 1885, an increase of 18 over the previous year, with 18 supplying complete returns and 11 incomplete (p. 388).
- Rowell identifies a cyclical pattern in Singapore rainfall: very large annual falls at intervals of 8–10 years, with smaller above-average falls at roughly five-year intervals, observable from the commencement of the record through 1885 (p. 389).
Conclusion
Rowell’s definitive takeaway is that 1885 was a year of marked climatic divergence across the Straits—severely dry at Singapore yet wet at Penang and Province Wellesley—and that the accumulating multi-station, multi-decadal dataset is beginning to reveal meaningful periodicities in regional rainfall that warrant continued systematic observation. His brief discussion of forest desiccation, while ultimately dismissive of its local impact on Singapore, signals an early colonial engagement with the relationship between land use and climate.
Context
- Rowell held the appointment of Principal Civil Medical Officer, Straits Settlements, and the report was an official government publication originally issued in the Government Gazette before being reprinted in JSBRAS with an editorial note affirming its “permanent scientific value” (p. 384).
- The observation network relied heavily on private and semi-official contributors (estate managers, hospital staff, the P&O Company), reflecting the distributed and under-resourced character of colonial scientific administration in the 1880s Straits Settlements.