Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Professor Upton remarks:

It will be seen from the chart that in the region embracing nearly the southern half of Vermont and of New Hampshire west of the Merrimack, the western half of Massachusetts, nearly the whole of Connecticut and of New York, east of the Hudson, as far north as Lake George, the average depth of unmelted snow exceeded thirty inches, while in Central Connecticut and a large part of Eastern New York the average fall was over forty inches.

We may, then, taking the facts together and applying our own observations to that part which visited New Hampshire, say that the storm had its origin in the North Pacific Ocean, the conditions attending being first observed there, and reaching the western coast it passed over the Rocky Mountain ranges, moved southeastward to Georgia, where it assumed a cyclonic form. It then started up the Atlantic coast from the Carolinas, its center reaching the southeastern coast of Massachusetts on the evening of the 12th. While the storm had been traveling up the coast, a wave of low temperature reached Lake Ontario and pressed onward to the Atlantic, mingling with the coast winds and its storm, which reduced its temperature and increased the precipitation of snow. It is to be noted that the temperature did not fall so low here as in the States south and west of us.

The greatest precipitation in this State was on the 12th and evening following. While the snow from the clouds diminished during the 13th, the high wind raised it in its force, and filled the air so much that a person could see but a few feet before him. In breathing, the snow would fill the mouth and nose and follow the current to the lungs, where, melting, it would nearly, if not quite, choke the person exposed; falling upon the eyes in dense bunches, it would melt, partly obscuring sight by the water and unmelted snow; hence the danger to the traveler in the storm.

We give the following general description of the weather during the storm at Manchester :

The 9th of March the temperature averaged 34.75°, and the mean barometer was quite high, 30.25 inches, for that day. On the 10th the thermometer fell slightly, to 33.50° (mean),

and the barometer gave a mean of 30.47 inches (high), the day closing with an east wind.

On the 11th the mean thermometer fell to 32°, and the barometer to 30.27. A southeast wind continued all day, and a very light snow fell during the night. On the morning of the 12th snow was falling, and the storm increased during the day under a high northeast wind, with a mean temperature of 27.50°, a barometer of 29.37 (low) inches at 9 P. M. (29.62 mean for the day), and fifteen inches of snow fell on the day and night following. The 13th came with the same high northeast wind, snowfall diminishing, but blowing and flying, and drifting in high drifts wherever obstructed. At 7 A. M. the temperature was 27°, the barometer 29.25; but soon the barometer began to rise, at 9 o'clock in the evening reading 29.66. The mean temperature for the day was 29.50°, and the mean barometer 29.45. During the day and night eight inches of snow were added to the fifteen inches that had already fallen, making in all 23 inches of light snow in Manchester, all subject to the winds and gales.

TOWNS.

The following table of precipitation in this State, in some seventy places, is also the work of Professor Upton.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Total

Precipitation.

RAINFALL AND SNOWFALL.

DAILY RECORD AT CONCORD FROM JUNE 1, 1863, TO JUNE 1, 1888.

BY HON. WILLIAM L. FOSTER.

The following tables show the amount of rain and snow precipitated each day on which as much as .10 of an inch of rain or one inch of snow has fallen. The rain is expressed in hundredths of an inch and the snow in inches. In some cases where a storm of rain or snow has continued two or more successive days, the whole amount of the snow or rain is put down on the date when the storm ceased. In order to ascertain the total precipitation (rain and melted snow) of a month or a year, it is usual to consider that ten inches of snow are equal to one inch of rain.

27

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »