43 



METEOROLOGICAL REPORT. 



As intimated in the report for November, the depression of temperature which 

 prevailed in the end of that month did not reach its minimum, in the States to- 

 wards the Atlantic, till the beginning of the following month; and in illustration 

 of this, and for the purpose of connecting the two months, we give here a few 

 notes from the registers of some of those States for December. Throughout New 

 England, the lowest temperature of this depression was on the 3d. In Maine, 

 it was 70 at West Vf aterville ; at Williamsburg, 4°; Lisbon, 13°; Cornishville, 

 80 ; Steuben, 6°. In New Hampshire, at Claremont, 10° ; Littleton, 6° ; North 

 Littleton, 2° ; Stratford, 4°. In Vermont, at Brandon, 9-" , Lurenburg, 5'^ ; 

 Craftsbmy, 3°; Burlington, 9°; Rutland, 12^. In Massachusetts, New Bed- 

 ford, 18°; Sandwich, W^; Mendou, 13°; Amherst, 16^; Williamstown, 12°; 

 Baldwinsville, 6° ; Topsfield, 18° ; Westfield, 17°. The above stations are those 

 for which the minimum was given in the table for November ; and tliey are 

 arranged in the same order, for the convenience of comparison. At nearly all 

 the stations, the temperature of the 2d day of December was much higher than 

 that of either the 1st or the 3d; and, at some of them, it is doubtful which day 

 to select as the culmination of the cold, whether the 1st or the 3d, though at ail 

 of them the 3d was colder than either of the other two. It often happens that 

 fluctuations of temperatui'e occur which interrupt its gradual descent, the ther- 

 mometer rising suddenly, and, witbiu twenty-four hours, falling again even lower 

 than, before, thus interposing, between two cold days, one much warmer. 



After the 3d there was another rise, and about the 7th the temperature fell 

 again yet lower. It increased again on the 9th; and on the 11th was lower than 

 on any previous day, and at some stations reached the minimum of the month. 

 After these fluctuations, which prevailed to some extent in the western States 

 as well as-the eastern, the warmest day of the month occurred in the States east 

 of Ohio ; further west, there was a warmer day earlier in the mouth, as may be 

 seen by referring to the table of maxima and minima for December. 



We are able this mouth to make use of the valuable observations taken at 

 various stations ou the lakes, under the direction of Colonel Graham, Superin- 

 tendent of the Lake Survey. Copies of these registers have been received, for 

 several years, by the Smithsonian Institution ; hut they come several months 

 together, in large packages, by express, and therefore not in time to be used in 

 the preparation of these reports. 



The lowest temperature recorded on the registers which have been received 

 is 32 degrees below zero, at Forest City, in Minnesota. The station which gives 

 the lowest mean temperature of the mouth is North Littleton, New Hampshire, 

 11.2 degrees. At St. Paul, Minnesota, and some other places in the west, as 

 shown by the summaries inserted at the end of this month, the thermometer was 

 lower in February, 1863, than in December, 



We began to prepare for this number a table giving the lowest temperatures 

 which have been observed at varioiis places throughout the United States and 

 British America, but found it impossible to get it ready in time. Such a table 

 would be useful for reference, whenever a day occurs (as it often does) which is 

 said to be " colder than was ever known before." While colldctiug materials 

 for this table our attention was called to two instances of the poAver of the 

 human system to endure cold, which may be interesting in connexion with the 

 experience of many persons in the western States who were exposed only for a 

 short time to the low temperature of the last day of December. Captain Ross, 



