28G 



METEOROLOGY IN RUSSIA. 



a lialf higher tlmn in Iceland. In Siberia the mean minima are also 

 higher in January than in the other mouths, while generally iu Europe 

 and North America the contrary is the case, indicating a greater inten- 

 sity of the storms in midwinter. In the annexed diagram the move- 

 ment of the minima is graphically represented. North America and 

 Western Europe have the same system of curves, the miuima being 

 highest iu summer, lowest in winter. In Siberia and Eastern Asia the 

 contrary is the case ; this is especially marked at Pekin. The stations 

 of Lugan, in S. Kussia, and Cathariuenburg, on the Ural, occupy an 

 intermediary positiou, having neither the oceanic, nor the true continental 

 type. The greatest difference between the last two places being that iu 

 Lugan October has the highest minima iu the year, and Cathariuenburg 

 the lowest. This is not accidental. In October the conditions of the 

 temperature and moisture of the air on the Ural, and iu Siberia, are 

 more favorable to the propagation of storms than in winter. In the 

 same season the Atlantic storms take a ujore northern course, causing 

 a great depression of the miuima on the Ural. In Southern Russia 

 the pressure is generally high iu autumn, as also the miuima. Octo- 

 ber is not a stormy month there, while November and December are. 



It is possible that in October Atlantic storms may reach as far as 

 Jakutsk. The sky is generally overcast there, it is the most cloudy 

 month of the year, and the number of west and southwest winds is great. 

 The temperature has uot yet fallen so low, even in the northern inte- 

 rior of Siberia, as to prevent the propagation of storms. 



We shall next consider the winds, whi(!h are in so intimate a connection 

 with the pressure of the air. I have said before that Wesselovsky had 

 proved the existence of a belt of eastern winds during autumn and winter 

 in Southern Russia, while at the same time the southwest winds prevail 

 iu the northern jjart of the country. The movements of the atmosphere 

 are better known at the present time as far as the Jenissei, and I have 

 been able to prove the existence of a belt of prevailing southwest winds 

 in Northern Siberia, and of eastern winds in the south of that conntry 

 and Central Asia. The division line runs about the parallel of 50° or 

 52° north in Siberia, and a little more south near the shores of the Black 

 Sea.* 



This is illustrated by the following table, which shows the percentage of 

 winds in winter in Western Siberia, Central Asia, and Southeastern 



Russia : 



South of 52°. 



Oieuburg 



Seinipalatiusk 



Raimsk, (Syo-Daria) 

 Astrachan 



'" Tswiistia" of the Eussiau Geographical Society, year 1671, Xo. 5.) 



