OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 23 



June 28. The low pressure area of the preceding day moved east- 

 ward with warm weather, and while central over Lake Ontario, on the 

 afternoon of the 28th, a moderate number of showers were reported 

 in New England, generally light and in most cases moving from the 

 west or southwest. Towards night, the thunder died away, but the 

 rain increased. 



June 29. (Storm charted by Mr. H. H. Clayton. See Fig. 1.) No 

 better example than the storm of June 29th can be taken to show 

 the need of some better classification of storms than that based simply 

 on the fact of thunder being heard. The storm of this date was one of 

 a series of rain showers that accompanied the approach and passage 

 of the area of low pressure already mentioned. The night before 

 (June 28), when the centre of low pressure was in northern New 

 York, there was a general rain at many stations, but only a few re- 

 ports mentioned thunder ; the morning of the 29th was cloudy, and 

 the air rather close and oppressive, although the thermometer did 

 not often rise over 85° to 90° (mean max. 80°). The centre of low 

 pressure, according to the Monthly Weather Review, moved south- 

 eastward during the day, from northern Vermont to Massachusetts 

 Bay, and the next morning (June 30) lay in the Gulf of Maine. The 

 afternoon thunder-storm began in or a little west of the Connecticut 

 valley, just before noon, and moved about east or east-southeast, 

 eighteen to twenty-five miles an hour, fading away as it approached 

 the eastern and southern coast, before sunset. Its front was not well 

 marked ; the rain began gently, and there was seldom any clearly 

 marked previous change in the wind's direction or strength, though, at 

 some stations where the rain became heavy, the wind then shifted for 

 a time to northwest and became '' brisk"; nor was the rain-front con- 

 tinuous, as central Massachusetts had no rain, while Connecticut, 

 eastern Massachusetts (about the Newtons), and southern New Hamp- 

 shire had heavy rain. In Connecticut, the wind before the rain was 

 light, from south or southwest, with moderately high temperatures 

 (80°-85°) ; it shifted during the shower to west or northwest, and the 

 temperature fell fifteen or more degrees (68° to 70°). At Hartford, 

 Middletown, and Colchester, the rain was heavy, and hail as large as 

 robin's es:G;s fell for a few minutes at the latter station. 



The New Hampshire portion of the storm that came at the same 

 time as that in Connecticut had less defined characteristics ; the rain 

 began very irregularly, and the changes of the wind seem to be with- 

 out system, some stations reporting a change from southeast to north- 

 west, others almost the reverse, and still others had a variable 



