"Martin Rowley" wrote in message
...

... many thanks. My interest is to make it clear on the FAQ page dealing
with 'singularities' over what period the analysis was made. Currently,
I have used the Meteorological Glossary entry which states ' ... over 50
years', but I'm now wondering if that is correct, or rather a gross
simplification.

Dunno whether you have a note in the FAQ on Buys Ballot's Law, Martin,
but I've just come across this, which was a surprise to me:

"It is interesting to recall here that Cleveland Abbé, in an appreciation of
Buchan, wrote: 'Buys Ballot enunciated a comparatively crude rule for
weather forecasting in Holland, but Buchan showed that this rule was
simply the local expression of two rules, namely, the rotation of the
winds, and the progress of the storms, and it is he to whom we owe
the very pretty rule that is called Buys Ballot's Law; but he was too
generous and kind to make any such claim for himself."

Here's a quote from the same article to make all Scots proud:

Following an appeal for subscriptions to the Ben Nevis Observatory
Fund in 1883, John Stuart Blackie, who was described as a
patriotic champion of Scottish Nationality, replied: "I am sorry
that meteorological studies have no attraction for me and that not
being troubled with superfluity of cash I am obliged to reserve my
contributions to claims more kindred to my nature."

Source:
Scrap Album of Alexander Buchan, anon., Weather, vol 5, no.3,
1950.

Philip Eden