METEOROLOGY. 875 



ored charts (published separately) show rainfall (January to December), 

 rainfall for seasons, rainfall for the year, snowfnll (in inches), monthly 

 maxima of rainfall, rainy seasons, monthly minima of rainfall, details 

 of rainfall, and details of occurrence of thunderstorms. The text dis- 

 cusses, under the head of mean amounts of rainfall, least rainfall, 

 greatest rainfall, topography and its effects on rainfall, snow, distri- 

 bution by States, disposal of the rainfall, variation in the annual rain- 

 fall, daily rainfall, and hourly rainfall; under relative amounts of pre- 

 cipitation, curves, maximum monthly rainfall, rainy seasons, minimum 

 monthly rainfall, probability of rain, and character of rainfall; under 

 special features of rainfall, heaviest rainfall, consecutive days with and 

 without rain, and thunderstorms. 



"The statistics of rain and snow, here given, include the most important series of 

 observations that have been made from the early settlement of the country to the 

 close of the year 1891. 



" The collection embraces the records originally contributed to the Smithsonian 

 Institution in manuscript, and others collected by that Institution from private 

 individuals, those from the published journals of scientific societies and other asso- 

 ciations, those made under the direction of the Medical Department of the U. S. 

 Army, the Lake Survey, the Eegeuts of the University of the State of New York, 

 the Central and Southern Pacific Eailways, the various State Weather Services and 

 meteorological associations, the Signal Service, and, finally, the Weather Bureau, 

 which succeeded it." 



Depth of snoTv on ground during February, 1895 {U. 8. Dept. 



Agr., Weather Bureau^ Weekly Snow Charts for Feb., 1S95). — The charts 

 for February show a very unusual extentof snow-covered ground during 

 the greater part of the month. February 11 the entire country, with 

 the exception of the southern jjortions of the Gulf States and the 

 Pacific Coast, had a depth varjnng from 1 in. in the South to 15 in. in 

 the Northwest and Northeast, and 35 in. in upper Michigan. By Feb- 

 ruary 28 it had practically disappeared from all j)ortions of the United 

 States excepting tlie lake regions and the extreme Northeast. 



The chart for Feb. 11 contains an interesting note relating to the 

 cold period of Feb. 1 to 11. 



"At a majority of stations over the central and southern portions of the coun- 

 try the minimum records for the first decade of February have been lowered. At 

 Galveston and New Orleans, where the records cover nearly a quarter of a century, 

 the minimum temperature of February 8 reached 14° and 16°, respectively, that at 

 Galveston being 14° below any previous record of the first decade of February, 

 the record at New Orleans being lowered by 9°." — o. L. fassig. 



Monthly Weather Revie'w {U. S. Dept. Agr., Weather Bureau, 

 Monthly Weather Revieiv, 22 (1894), Nos. 9-11, pp. 351-485, charts 19).~ 

 These numbers include the usual notes and summaries. Beginning 

 with the September number a new section on "Meteorology and mag- 

 netism" is introduced. 



" In response to the request of the chief of the Weather Bureau, the directors of 

 the observatories at Toronto, Washington, and San Antonio have courteously under- 

 taken to forward to the Bureau, as promjitly as jiossible, certain data from their 



