460 ri\ PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



surface of the land. 1 But no upward vortices of air could 

 be thereby generated, so as to account for the formation of 

 clouds and rain agreeably to your theory. On the contrary, 

 during the depth of winter, from Christmas till the end of 

 February, when the prevalent wind in the United States is 

 from the west or north west, that is, from a cold towards a 

 comparatively warm climate, upward vortices of air, and 

 clouds, and rain, agreeably to your theory, ought to be pro- 

 duced; whereas, clear, dry, frosty weather is then the in- 

 variable concomitant of such a wind. Similar observations 

 are applicable to the climate in which I reside, and in all 

 others in temperate and cold latitudes. The most rainy 

 winds are those which blow from a warm towards a com- 

 paratively cold climate ; and the driest winds are those 

 which blow from a cold towards a comparatively warm 

 climate. But the former, viz. the rainy winds, can never 

 originate an ascension of the undermost atmospheric strata ; 

 whereas, the latter, upon the principle of monsoons, and 

 sea and land breezes, must always produce that tendency 

 in a greater or less degree. 

 3d. In certain great rains, mentioned in your reports, ex- 



1 The whole doctrine of our north east storms appears to be entirely mis- 

 understood. During their entire progress from the West Indies, in which 

 they frequently originate, to Maine, the wind does not blow from a warmer to 

 a colder climate, but the reverse. When the storm is yet in the West Indies, 

 the wind is blowing from the north ; and when it reaches South Carolina, the 

 wind in North Carolina and Virginia is from the northr east, and when it reaches 

 Virginia, it is blowing in Pennsylvania and New York and Massachusetts, 

 from the north east, and in Ohio, from the north west ; and in the northern 

 borders of the storm, the wind is most violent from the north, and the quantity 

 of snow is the greatest, as far as ascertained. (116, et passim.) Moreover, 

 whenever these storms pass Philadelphia, and are raging in the north 

 eastern states, the wind invariably changes to some western point, some- 

 times to the north of west, and sometimes to the south of west. It is true, 

 that on the southern borders of these storms, the wind, at the same time, 

 is blow ing from some southern direction, and no doubt contributes much to 

 the violence of the storm, from the quantity of steam it brings to the focus of 

 action. 



