REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 31 



From this it results that the most frequent are the northwest and 

 southwest, the former in winter and the hitter in summer. The 

 least number of days in which rain fell was in February, the g-reatest 

 in May. The greatest number of days in which snow fell was in Jan- 

 uary. The earliest snow occurred on the 2Gth September, 1808, and 

 the latest on the 8th of June, 1816. On an average, snow falls in 

 Brunswick on some day in May once in five years, and in October once 

 every other year. The average number of rainy days is 64. The average 

 number of snowy-days is 30. The average amount of rain and snow is 

 44.68 inches. The greatest amount of rain during any one day was 8|- 

 inches, November 4, 1845. The greatest fall of snow was on the 10th 

 of March, 1819, and measured 30 inches. The greatest number of 

 rainfalls occur while the wind is from the northeast, and the least 

 number while it is from the west. The northeast wind in winter is 

 almost constantly accompanied by rain or snow, while in summer the 

 southeast surpasses it as a vehicle of rain, a result evidently due to 

 the position of the place of observation with respect to the ocean. 

 The number of storms of thunder and lightning recorded during 51 

 years is 472, or about 9 a year. The greatest number occurred in 

 July and August, the least in January and February. The total num- 

 ber of fogs is 1, 135, or 22 in a year, the most dense of which occur in 

 ummer, the least dense in winter. 



July is the only month in which no frost is recorded. The earliest 

 frost observed was August 3d, and the latest June 19th. On an 

 average, the spring frost ceases after the first week in June, and the 

 autumn frost commences after the first week in September. There 

 were 34 hail storms — the greatest number in January, the least in 

 August. The records notice the occurrence of seven earthquakes 

 and 86 auroras, the greatest number of the latter in September and 

 October. 



The aurora also exhibits a maximum and a minimum. The maxi- 

 mum occurred in 1808, 1818, 1830, 1838, 1848, 1857, giving differ- 

 ences of 10, 12, 8, 10, and 9 years. This indicates an average 

 period of about 10 years. Unfortunately the temperature of the 

 barometer is not given, and therefore a reduction on account of 

 the expansion of the mercury is not possible, and consequently the 

 onlv use which has been made of tlie record has been to exhibit the 



« 



monthly extreme values, together with their annual variations. 



The barometric maxima reach their greatest value in December 

 and their least value in June. The minima occur in August. The 

 monthly range is the greatest at the period of greatest cold, in Jan- 

 uary, and the least range at the period of greatest heat, in July. 



