THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 213 



while the day was nearly calm, and at the same time a violent hurri- 

 cane, with much snow, was apparently blowing right towards this very 

 locality. But this case exactly resembles the action of the sea breeze — 

 the northeast wind being gradually absorbed into the upper current 

 along the whole area over which it blows. The warming influence of 

 the southwest upper current is well illustrated by the fact, stated to me 

 by Mr. Moyle, that snow did not cover the ground for an hour last 

 winter, though much fell with the northeast wind not far to the east- 

 ward of his place. 



Though the storm had begun at Heligoland on the afternoon of the 

 5th, it did not reach Aberdeenshire on the 4th. The northeast winds 

 were quite dry beyond this county; and the sky at Sandwich, in Ork- 

 ney, was bright, and the air quite calm. Notwithstanding the preva- 

 lence of the easterly winds, we find that the temperature is advanced 

 from west to east, especially along the western coast of Europe ; and 

 on the 6th, the upper current seems to have so completely worn away 

 the lower current, that the wind was from the southwest on that day 

 from Cornwall to Belgium. But in the north of England and over 

 Scotland the lower current increased in depth, and tor a time checked 

 the warm upper current, or drove it back, and restored cold weather. 

 All places under the influence of the southwest wind had their temper- 

 ature raised, while those under the northeast had it depressed. This 

 will be shown by the following table of temperature and direction of 

 the wind: 



Orkney E. minimum 23J<^ 



Aberdeen calm " 10° 



Fifeshire E. " 30° 



Liverpool S. E. " 30^ 



This may be taken as an example of our eastern storms. They are 

 preceded b}^ a fall of the barometer, but the manner in which they ter- 

 minate has nothing of that regularity which distinguishes your storms. 

 Very often the southwest wind blows as a deep current, and produces 

 moist and warm weather in the depth of winter. The lower eastern 

 wind, which is often very stormy, must be regarded as a mere surface 

 stream, which is usually absorbed by the deeper upper current. 



Now, I think it is very probable that an action similar to that of our 

 northeastern storms is sometimes developed over the United States and 

 in Canada. While I was sailing down the St. Lawrence, in the be- 

 ginning of last October, a strong head wind prevailed from the north- 

 east, at the same time that the clouds at no great height were drifting 

 from the southwest. At Quebec, I also observed the same phenome- 

 non ; and, according to Professor Mitchell, of North Carolina, northeast 

 storms are sometimes developed over large portions of the United 

 States when the clouds are from the opposite quarter. 1 have had no 

 opportunities since 1 have been in this country to examine the northeast 

 rain storms, which appear to be more frequent in the New England 

 States than to the south. But I suspect we must alwa3^s bear in mind 

 that an upper current flows from the west quarter even when the lower 

 northeast wind and middle southwest current are prevailing. 



There is another class of storms of ver}^ common occurrence in Great 



