PREFACE. 



During the past seventj years a very large amount of data 

 has accumulated, bearing upon the climate and weather iol New 

 York; the efforts of the Smithsonian Institution and the New 

 York Board of Regents having awakened a general and practi- 

 cal interest in these subjects early in the century. The system 

 of observations organized by the Regents in 1826 at more than 

 fifty schools and academies in the State is noteworthy as being 

 the first important attempt made in this country toiward the 

 investigation of lo^cal climate. The general scheme of work 

 adopted at the outset was very similar to that developed within 

 recent years by the local weather services of the various States; 

 while the methods of oibservation were approved by coimpetent 

 meteoirologiists of the time. The Regents' system was finally dis- 

 continued in 1863; but thereafter records of the weather were 

 maintained at several Military Posts as well as by numerous inde- 

 pendent observers; and between the years 1871 and 1874 five 

 statioins were established in New York by the United States Sig- 

 nal Service. The State Meteorological Bureau, which was oirgan- 

 ized in 1889, has also furnished valuable data from more than 

 sixty well disitributed stations. 



The preparation of this report required a criticism of nearly 

 all of the voluminous records thus ohtained, and which have 

 apparently been accepted without question hitherto. This fea- 

 ture of the work is described in isome detail in section VI, and 

 the considerations are there given which led to the exclusive use 

 of recent observations wherever practicable, especially as regards 

 temperature. The results of the Regents and other early obser- 

 vations have been, in part collated and summarized in the valua- 

 ble essays of *Hough and fCoffin, and are also represented in the 



* Essay on the Climate of the State of New York, by F. B. Hough, Albany, N. Y. 

 + A Letter upon the Climate of New York, by Professor J. H. Coflan. Contained in the 

 " Natural History of New York State," Albany, 1843. 



