OP, ARTS AND SCIENCES. 37 



notably at Wenham, Mass., five miles or more south of the rain area 

 indicated by the records. The second storm began in central Massa- 

 chusetts a little before noon, moved 30 to 35 miles an hour a little 

 south of east, passing Boston at 12^30, Plymouth at IS''. 40, and 

 Provincetown at li'^.lO; like the preceding storm, its rain was brief 

 and heavy, with a well-marked northwest or west squall, and at Ply- 

 mouth there was some hail at lo^Ao. The oblique position of the 

 storm-axis with respect to its motion, as indicated by the times of rain 

 beginning, is in this case directly confirmed by the record from Prov- 

 incetown, where the storm-cloud was described as about three times as 

 long as it was wide, with its longer axis standing west to east, while it 

 moved to the southeast " with a sidewise drifting motion." The third 

 shower was a very mild one, beginning a little west of northern Rhode 

 Island about IS'^.SO, and crossing southeastern Massachusetts between 

 15'^ and 16\ 



August 23. No reports were received for this day; the distribu- 

 tion of pressure gave gentle northward gradients, without any centre 

 of low pressure being visible. / 



August 24. On this day the gradients to the northeast were better 

 defined, between an area of high pressure on the Southern States and 

 a centre of low pressure that moved across the northern part of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. A rather remarkable series of storms occurred 

 in the afternoon, as these conditions gave way before the approach of 

 a tropical cyclone, whose centre lay off the coast of Georgia on the 

 morning of the 2oth. The morning was fair ; soon after noon showers 

 entered western Connecticut and Massachusetts, of moderate intensity 

 at first, but gathering strength notably in two cases as they advanced 

 eastward. In Connecticut, the separate showers were so numerous 

 that they cannot be very satisfactorily traced. The first one traversed 

 the State from northwest to southeast corner, at a rate of twenty miles 

 or more an hour ; it had heavy rain, some hail, and a strong north- 

 west squall at Norwich and on the border of Rhode Island. In this 

 and some of the later showers there were many lightning strokes. 

 In northern Massachusetts, a storm gathered east of the Connecticut 

 Valley about 14'' and became very violent on the shore between 

 Boston and Cape Ann about 16\30; the rain, wind-squall, and light- 

 ning were all exceedingly strong as this storm ran off the coast to 

 the east-southeast. Again, a storm that was described only as a 

 shower in central Rhode Island about IG"", became very energetic 

 about New Bedford at 18''. In the evening, the winds that had been 

 southwesterly, bringing high temperatures (mean max. 82°), changed 



