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OBSERVATIONS ON THE HUKIIICANES AND STORMS OF THfcl 

 WEST INDIES AND THE COAST OF THE UNITED STATES. By 



W. C. Redfield, of New York *. 



It has been found by a careful attention to the progress and 

 phenomena of the more violent storms which have visited the 

 AVestern Atlantic, that they exhibit certain characteristics of 

 great uniformity. This appears, not only in the determinate 

 course which these storms are found to pursue, but in the direc- 

 tion of wind, and succession of changes which they exhibit while 

 they continue in action. The same general characteristics ap- 

 pear also to pertain, in some degree, to many of the more com- 

 mon variations anil vicissitudes of winds and weather, at least 

 in the ten)perate latitudes. The following points may be con- 

 sidered as established : — 



1. The storms of greatest severity often originate in the 

 tropical latitudes, and not unfrcquently, to the northward or 

 eastward of the West India Islands ; in which region they are 

 distinguished by the name of hurricanes. 



2. These storms cover at the same moment of time, an extent 

 of contiguous surface, the diameter of which may vary in diffe- 

 rent storms, from 100 to 500 miles, and in some cases they have 

 been much more extensive. They act with diminished violence 

 towards the exterior, and with increased energy towards the in- 

 terior, of the space which they occupy. 



3. While in the tropical latitudes, or south of the parallel of 

 30°, these storms pursue their course, or are drifted towards the 

 west, on a track, which inclines generally to the northward, till 

 it approaches the latitude of 30°. In the vicinity of this paral- 

 lel, their course is changed somewhat abruptly to the northward 

 and eastward, and the track continues to inchne gradually to the 

 east, towards which point, after leaving the lower latitudes, they 

 are found to advance with an accelerated velocity. 



The rate at which these storms are found thus to advance in 

 their course, varies much in different cases, but may be estimated 

 at from twelve to thirty miles an hour. The extent to which 

 their course is finally pursued, remains unknown ; but it is 



• In vol. XX. of Dr Silliman's Journal, there is a full view of Mr Red- 

 field's opinion in regard to the prevailing storms of the Atlantic Ocean. 



