236 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



cease, as they do in September and October, comes a delightful Indian 

 summer. In November and December the early rains fall, and the 

 temperature being moderate, vegetation starts Ibrth, and midwinter 

 finds the earth clad in livel}"" green and spangled with countless flowers. 

 The spring opens with genial warmth, but just as the April sun begins 

 to give promise of summer heat, its rays are shorn of their power by 

 the winds and mists of the Pacific. 



These remarks apply only to a small portion of the State of Cali- 

 fornia. Beyond the influence of the Bay of San Francisco and its out- 

 let, the sea winds are scarcely perceptible, even near the ocean. In a 

 subsequent chapter, ] will present the results of my observations on the 

 winds, clouds, rain, and other phenomena of the climate, as noticed at 

 San Francisco, together with some notes on the climate of other por- 

 tions of the Slate, and also its general relations to health. 



NO. 2.— WINDS. 



In .a former article I gave the result of my observations on Temper- 

 ature. The present chapter refers to the Winds. 



The course of the wind is noted in my journal b}^ three daily entries, 

 viz : forenoon, afternoon and evening. Should the wind change during 

 either of these periods, as it very often does, especially in the forenoon, 

 the change is marked, and taken into account in the summing up. 

 With these explanations, the reader will have no difficulty in compre- 

 hending the following table, which shows the winds of each month of 

 the year, and the total of the year : 



The direction of the coast is nearly NW. and SE., or about one point 

 north of NW., and one point south of SE. Hence the winds from 

 NW. to S., inclusive, blow from the ocean, and those from N. to SE. 

 from the land. The former greatly preponderate, exhibiting an aggre- 

 gate of 880 observations, to 215 of the latter. That is to say, the 

 winds blew from the ocean semi-circle more than three-fourths of the 

 year. 



