28 
POPULAR SCIEN'CE NEWS. 
[February, 1890. 
I 
was 7.84° above the average in the last nineteen | 
Decembers, and only 1.77° below the average of 
November, while the average difference between 
these two months is 951°. Five Novembers in 
nineteen vears have been colder than the present 
December. 
The temperature of the entire year was 2.76° 
above the average of the last nineteen years, which 
is an excess equivalent to 1007. 4*^ during the year. 
The lowest point reached during the last year was 
— 2°, February 24th, and the highest 89°, May loth. 
The lowest point in nineteen years was — 20°, Janu- 
ary 30th, 1873, and the highest 95'-', July 4th, 1S73, — 
a range of uj°. The lowest yearly range was 84°, 
in 1S77, and the highest 113'^, in 1873. 
SKY. 
The face of the sliy the last month, in 93 observa- 
tions, gave 50 fair, 16 cloudy, iS overcast, 6 rainy, 
and 3 snowy, — a percentage of 53.8 fair, while the 
average fair in nineteen Decembers has been just 
50, with extremes of 40.9 in 1887, and 75 3 in 1877. 
Only two Decembers have been moro fair than the 
present, though several have been nearly the same. 
The mornings of the nth and 19th were noted 
foggy. The last half of the month was generally 
fine and warm — more like autumn or spring than 
winter. "What remarkable weather for the sea- 
son," was a frequent observation. On the morning 
of the 27th, at about 3 o'clock, a beautiful aurora 
was noticed in the northeast, resembling, however, 
more the break of day than the ordinary northern 
lights, as it was a steady light, destitute of stream- 
ers, extending four or five points in the horizon, 
and rising 25° to 30° upward, and gradually shading 
off into the blue sky. It continued for an hour or 
more. 
It will be seen by the table below tliat the entire 
year has been less fair, and, con.sequently, more 
cloudy, than usual, and that this cloudiness extended 
through the year, except the three winter months. 
Two of these months — January and December- 
were remarkably warm, and nearly destitute of 
snow. 
PRECIl'IlATION. 
The amount of precipitation the past month, 
including about 5 inches of snow melted, was 2.97 
inches, wliile the average amount during the last 
twenty-one Decembers has been 3.96, with extremes 
of 73 in 1875, and 7. 89 in 18S4. The precipitation 
came in small quantities, principally on nine differ- 
ent days, well distributed. The first snow of the 
season fell on the 3d — only about half an inch. On 
the 14th about 4'!! inches f.-U, giving two days of 
very imperfect sleighing. On the i8th the snow 
had entirely disappeared, and so continues until the 
present. The ground has much of the time been so 
free from frost, that plowing and other farm work 
need not be hindered. 
Th^ amount of precipitation the last year has 
been 57 32 inches, while the average yearly amount 
for twenty-one years has been 47.11, with the 
remarkable extremes of only 32.26 inches in 1883, 
and 64 40 in 1888, — a range of 32.14 inches. The 
amount of the present year has been exceeded but 
twice in twenty-one years — in 1878 and 1888. The 
amount of snowfall the past year has been remark- 
ably small, only 17V2 inches, and this fell entirely 
on the first three and last months of the year. 
PRESSURE. 
The average pressure the last month was 30.068 
inches, with extremes of 29.30 on the 26th, and 
30.75 on the 31st, — a range of 1.45 inches. The 
average for the last sixteen Decembers has been 
29.959 inches, with extremes of 29 804 in 1876, and 
30.073 in 1879, — a range of .269 inch. The sum of 
the daily variations was 8.86 inches, giving an 
average daily movement of .286 inch, while this 
average the last sixteen Decembers has been .263, 
with extrenies of .190 and .329. The largest daily 
movements w-ere .53 on the 25th, and .52 on the 
nth, downward, and .50 on the 27th and 30th, 
upward ; on four other days the movements were 
.42 to .46, showing large barometric waves. The 
month closed with a very high barometer, 30 75, the 
highest point, with one exception, in sixteen years. 
December i, 1887, it reached 3080. The lowest 
point rtached during this period was 28. 70, in 
November, 1873, — a range of 2.10 inches. The 
mercury has fallen below 29 inehes but five times in 
sixteen years. 
The average yearly pressure in sixteen years has 
been 29 948 inches, with extremes of 29.891 in 1880, 
and 29.993 in 1883, — a range of .102 inch. The 
average daily movement in the sixteen years has 
been .184 inch, with extremes of .158 in 1877, and 
.2n in 1887. 
1 
Direction of the Winds, com- 
bined from 8 Points. 
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The direction of the wind, in 93 observations, the 
last month gave 14 N., o S., 4 E., 28 W., 8 N. E., 
25 N. W., 2 S. E., and 12 S. W., — an excess of 33 
northerly and 51 westerly over the southerly and 
easterly, and indicating the average direction to 
have been W. 32° 54' N. The westerly winds in 
December have uniformly prevailed over the east- 
erly for the last twenty years, by an average of 
54.95 observations, and the northerly over the 
southerly, with two exceptions, by an average of 
19 40, — thus indicating the approximate general 
average of December to be W. 19° 27' N., and show- 
ing the direction of the past month to have been 
13° 27' more northerly than usual. The relative 
progressive distance travelled by the wind the past 
month was 60.74 units, and during the last twenty 
Decembers 1,166 such units, an average of 58.30, — 
showing less opposing winds than usual for De- 
cember. 
The direction of the wind, observed three times 
daily for twenty years, five being leap years, has 
required 21,915 observations, distributed as follows: 
2,599 N., 1,606 S., 1,867 E., 5,192 W., 1,716 N.E., 
4,073 N. W., 722 S. E., and 4,140 S. W.,— giving an 
excess of 1,920 northerly and 9,100 westerly over the 
southerly an"d easterly, and indicating, approxi- 
mately, the grand average direction of all the 
months for twenty years to have been W. 11° 55' N., 
or almost exactly one point N., or, as sailors would 
say, " W. by N." 
The accompanying table is worthy of careful ex- 
amination, as it contains the combined results of 
over 75,000 observations, carefully computed and 
clearly arranged. These observations have become 
so numerous that the averages now secured give 
quite a reliable standard of the weather for this 
locality, in regard to the five aspects observed. The 
unusual high temperature for the last year, e. g., 
raised the general average only sixteen hundredths 
of a degree. So in regard to the other divisions. 
The table is sufficiently clear without further expla- 
nation. D. W. 
Natick, Jan. 8, 1S90. 
[Specially Computed for Populxr Sctetice A'««w.] 
ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR 
FEBRUARY, iSyo. 
MiiRruRY is a morning star throughout ihe 
month, and is far enough away from the sun to be 
seen during most of the latter half of the month. 
It attains greatest western elongation on February 
23, and is then nearly 27° west of the sun; but, as it 
is at the same time nearly 10° south, it rises only 
about an hour and a quarter before the sun. Venus 
passes superior conjunction with the sun on Febru- 
ary 18, and changes from a morning to an evening 
star. It will remain an evening star for a little 
more than nine months, or until December 3, when 
it passes inferior conjunction and becomes a morn- 
ing star. During the month it will be too near the 
sun to be easily seen, and at the end will be only 3° 
distaht. Mars is getting into better position for 
observation. It is in quadrature w-ith the sun on 
February 9, and rises a little before i A. M. on Feb- 
ruary I, and just after midnight on February 28. It 
is moving eastward in the constellations Libra and 
Scorpio, and at the end of the month is only about 
2° west of .Ssto Scorpii. This distance will be still 
smaller in March, as the planet passes within 8' 
of the star. The actual distance in miles of the 
planet from the earth is rapidly diminishing. On 
February i it is I34,ooo,oo»; on February 28 it is 
109,000,000. At its nearest approach (on June 4) 
the distance will be about 48,000,000 — only about 
one-third of what it is on Februarv i. Tupiter is 
now a morning star, and rises about an hour before 
the sun on February i and about an hour and three- 
quarters before on February 28. It is moving east- 
ward from the constellation Sagittarius into Capri- 
corn. Saturn is in the constellation Leo, and is in 
good position for observation. It is in opposition 
with the sun on February 18, and rises at 6h. 33m. 
P. M. on February i. At the end of the month it 
rises before sunset. During the month it moves 
westward about 2° toward the first magsitude star 
Regulus {Alpha Leonis), and at the end of the 
