Chap. 1. 



DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY. 



CLIMATE AND TEMPEKATUKE. 



METEOROLOGICAL JODKNALS, 



rods to the westward of this cavern there 

 is said to be another which is about two 

 thirds as larsre. 



Section III. 



Climate and Meteorology. 



Temperature. — Though situated in tlie 

 middle of the nortli temperate zone, the 

 climate of Vermont is subject to very 

 considerable extremes both of heat and 

 cold, and the changes of temperature are 

 often very sudden. The usual annual 

 range of the thermometer, in the shade, is 

 from about \)2° above to 22° below zero , 

 on Farenlieit's scale, though it is some- 

 times known to rise aa high as 100°, and 

 at other times to sink as low as 36°, and 

 even to 39° or 40° below zero. But so 

 great a degree of cold as that last men- 

 tioned, which is the freezing point of 

 mercury, has not, to our knowledge, been 

 experienced but twice since the means of 

 measuring temperature have been in use 

 in the state, and these were both in the 

 year 183.5 ; the first on the 4th of January, 

 and the second on the morning of the 

 18th of December. The temperature of 

 the 4th of January, as noted at several 



places in this state, was as follows : Mont- 

 pelicr —40°, White River —40°, Bradford 

 — 38°, Newbury — 36°, Norwich — 36°, 

 Windsor —34°, Hydepark —36°, Rutland 

 —30°, and Burlington — 26° ; and the 

 temperature varied but little from the 

 above at those places on the 18th of De- 

 cember. For some time after the first 

 settlement of Vermont the thermometer 

 was hardly known in this part of the 

 country ; and since that instrument haa 

 become common, very few meteorological 

 journals have been kept, and those few 

 have not, in general, been kept with suffi- 

 cient care to render them of much value, 

 nor have many of them been preserved in 

 a condition to be accessible to those who 

 may wish to consult them. And hence 

 we possess few accurate data, either for 

 determining the mean annual tempera- 

 ture of the different sections of the state, 

 or for settling the mooted question with 

 regard to a change of climate correspond- 

 ing to the clearing and cultivating of the 

 country. The results of the principal ob- 

 servations, to which we have access, and 

 which have been made in this state, to 

 ascertain the temperature of the months 

 and the mean annual temperature, are 

 contained in the following tables : 



Pt. i. 



