CLIM/^TE. 21 



In St. Louis, the winter months rarely have a day which is 

 really comfortable in the open air ; while at least half the sea- 

 son is so in San Francisco, the sky being clear, the sun w^arm, 

 and the breezes gentle, so that the weather bears a strong re- 

 semblance in temperature to the Indirin summer in the upper 

 Mississippi basin. Our coldest winter days, at noon, are as 

 warm as the warmest in Philadelphia. 



On the other hand, the summers are cool or cold. In No- 

 vember, 1854, the lowest figure reached by the thermometer 

 in San Francisco, was 47°, while in July of the same year it 

 was at 46° — showino- that at no time in the former month was it 

 so cold as at one time in the latter. The mean temperature of 

 July is 57°, twenty-one degrees lower than in Washington 

 city. There are not more than a dozen days in the year when 

 the thermometer rises above 80° — at which figure heat first 

 begins to be oppressive — while in St. Louis and at Washing- 

 ton there are in every year from sixty to ninety days that see 

 that heio-ht. No matter how warm the dav at noon, the even- 

 ings and mornings are always cool, and blankets are necessary 

 — at least a pair of them — as a bed-covering, every night. 



Although the mean temperature of summer difi*er3 little from 

 that of winter, yet there are sometimes very warm days, which 

 may be succeeded immediately by very cool nights. San Fran- 

 cisco never sees more than three hot days in succession. When 

 the sun has had an opportimity to rage for so long a period, 

 the air in the interior of the state becomes so hot, that it rises 

 rapidly ; and the ocean- winds, which must rush to supply the 

 place, never fail to bring cool weather to the vicinity of the 

 Golden Gate. Thus the mercury has risen (and that was its 

 highest) to 97°, and it often falls in July to 46° ; and such a 

 change of fifty degrees might occur within twelve hours. The 

 average range of the thermometer in July and August is about 

 twenty degrees — from 50° to 70°. Yet, as the mornings and 

 evenings are invariably cool, and the noons are not always 

 warm, " summer clothing" is seldom worn by men, and never 

 for twelve consecutive hours. The common custom is, to wear 



