New England Storm of December 15th, 1839. 169 
those placid periods of autumn which are denominated Indian 
summers, of which the cases alluded to are striking examples. 
This peculiar course of a portion of the Northers was uncom- 
monly “frequent in 1837, a year remarkable for the number and 
severity of its hurricanes. The autumn of 1845 has also been 
strongly marked by this peculiarity, with fine weather generally 
prevailing im the northern states, while severe gales have swept 
the Gulf of Mexico and thence over the Atlantic Ocean; touch- 
ing Bermuda in several cases, in one of which the body of the 
storm is announced to have passed to the southward of the island. 
In fact, storms of this class are found to occur, with variable fre- 
quency, at almost all seasons of the year. 
E 
New England Storm of December 15th, 1839. 
This storm may here be noticed as one of the numerous class 
of overland storms, which appear to come to us from the interior 
of the United States and the Mexican territories. In the south- 
western and western states this storm comprised the western di- 
vision of a very extensive but not intense barometric depression, 
of some days continuance, and like many other storms, was but 
little distinguished for the development of its anterior winds. The 
fall of the barometer under these winds, in New York and the 
middle states, was only about half an inch below the mean of 
the year. 'The storm was chiefly remarkable for its violence in 
New England, on the left side of its axis,—for the extent of the 
moderate and variable winds about its axis,—for the short dura- 
tion of the southeasterly and southerly winds of its right front, 
and for the great extent of westerly winds which were developed 
in the later part of the gale, which reached even to the border of 
the trade winds. The route of this storm is now placed on chart 
I, (track XVI,) in conformity with extensive observations, obtain- 
ed from the meteorological returns from the oe posts, marine 
reports and other sources. 
A number of storms, of greater intensity and more strongly 
marked outline, may be shown to have pursued a similar course 
over the interior of our continent and from thence to the Atlan- 
tic Ocean. But our attention must next be directed to the North- 
ers which come more directly from the eastern portions of Cen- 
tral America 
Seconp Senne, Vol. I, No. 2.—March, 1846. 22: 
