WINDS AND STORMS. . 437 



of the eastern side of the continent must of course prevail, 

 while their special influences are markedly visible. 



WINDS AND STORMS. 



Of the class to which the winds of the mountain belong, 

 we are presented with the following universally admitted 

 general statement of facts and laws of action : 



" Beyond the limits of the trade-winds in the temperate climates 

 of both hemispheres are the regions of the southwest and northwest 

 currents, called Prevalent Winds." JOHNSTON. 



"The mean direction of the prevailing currents of air or winds for 

 North America, is south. 86 west." KAMTZ. 



"The counter-trade, after leaving the northern limit of the sur- 

 face-trades, curves to the eastward, and gradually assumes an E.N.E. 

 course, and becomes a W.S.W. current where it crosses the line of 

 no variation, and continues on until it passes over the Atlantic ; and 

 this course and curve is analogous to what may be found true of the 

 counter-trade everywhere. It is best illustrated by the course of all 

 the :4orms (in the American sense of the word, as distinguished from 

 thunder showers and other brief rains) which have been traced north 

 or south of the limits of the trades. It was found by Mr. Redfield 

 in most of the storms investigated by him, which originated within 

 or north of the tropics. Doubtless it was the actual course of the 

 others, and that the investigation was imperfect. All the great 

 autumnal, winter, or spring storms which have traversed the whole 

 or any considerable portion of the territory of the United States, 

 east of New Mexico, which have been investigated by Professors 

 Espy, Loomis, Redfield, or others, have been found to follow this 

 course. 



" Messrs. Espy and Redfield, recognizing the existence of a 'pre- 

 vailing' S.W. current, but considering the surface-winds beneath it 

 as the principal actors in producing the atmospherical conditions and 

 changes, have attributed no office to that current, except that of giv- 

 ing direction and progression to our storms. This is their great 

 mistake. It plays no such unimportant part in the philosophy of 

 the weather, as we have already incidentally seen, and will proceed 

 still further to consider. 



" All our storms originate in it. This we may know from analogy. 



" Where there is no counter-trade, outside of the equatorial belt of rains, 

 and within influential distance of the earth, there are neither storms nor 

 rains." BUTLER. 



31* 



