"Paul C" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 17:08:06 +0100, "Philip Eden"
philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote:
"Paul C" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 15:48:45 GMT, (Paul C) wrote:
The Times reports this in its issue of June 4 1958 (rather than
1957).
It describes the water in the Valency rising 15 feet in 20
minutes,
after a cloudburst in the North Cornwall moors.
It is definitely 1958 - I have full online access to The Times
back
issues and the event is reported on page 10 of the 4 June 1958
edition
You are dead right. The description appears in British Rainfall
for 1958, yet no gauge in the district caught more than two inches
(50mm). However, there were no gauges in the Valency catchment
during that year, the nearest were at Bossiney, Camelford, and
Delabol, so it is possible that a highly localised fall occurred
over
the moors between the Camel and Bossiney catchments.
The June 1957 flood at Camelford also happened, of course.
The Times report of the 1957 Camelford flood states that 7.06 in of
rain fell in the 12 hours up to 9 pm and that between 1pm and 4pm 5.48
inches fell. "Hail followed the rain and in some places hailstones
were knee deep in the road"
--
Paul
The 7.1mm fell at Rough Tor View, Camelford. The Delabole gauge overflowed!
Another gauge just outside Camelford recorded 6.33 inches. The flood level
in Boscastle appears to have been just as high in 1957, based on
descriptions and photographs. The main difference this year was the damage
done by dozens of cars crashing into buildings.
There is no doubt the shape and position of the SW peninsula plays a large
part in the number of intense rainfall events in north Cornwall and N Devon.
A line of cloud up the peninsula, near the north coast when the gradient
wind is a humid S or SW, is a normal event in summer as the sea breeze
convergence sets in. (I have some photos on my web site at
www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/wpage6.html .
--
Graham
Penzance