sub RainSoFarMessage{

    my $ulimit = shift;         
    #print "\n$ulimit";

    my $xp = XML::XPath->new(filename 
    => 'weather_records.xml'); 

    my @totrain=();
    my $nodes;
    
    for ($month=1;$month<=$ulimit;$month++){
    
      #print "\n$month";
    
      my $pattern = "$month-";   
      #print "\n$pattern";       
                      
      $nodes = $xp->findnodes("//MonthlyWeatherRecord
      [contains(date,'$pattern')]"); 
                         
       foreach my $node($nodes->get_nodelist){
           push @totrain,$xp->findvalue(".//totalrainfall/ 
           \@number",$node);
      
        }
      
      } 
        
      #print "\n@totrain";
      my $total=0;
      #print "\n$total";
      
      foreach my $t(@totrain){
                      
	   #print "\n$t";         
	   
           $total=$total + $t;
           #print "\n$total";
       }
           return $total;     
 }