No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xi 



many places on that morning, although light frosts were 

 numerous during the entire month. 



Four West India hurricanes reached our coast during the 

 month, giving dangerous gales and causing considerable 

 damage to our shipping. The storm of the 23d, which evi- 

 dently originated over the Ohio valley and then moved to 

 our southern coast, gave a very early snow-storm. In 

 many places, where no hard frosts had been felt, the full- 

 leaved trees loaded with snow, the many flowers in the 

 gardens, looking up through their white blanket, and the 

 unpicked Baldwin apples showing among the snow-covered 

 branches, all presented an unusual sight. 



The precipitation was considerably above the normal in the 

 eastern and slightly below in the western section. At Cotuit 

 the total rainfall for the month was 10.14 inches, 5.46 inches 

 more than the normal for the month. A wind velocity of 40 

 miles an hour was registered at Boston on the 23d. 



There was a deficiency of rainfall during November, no 

 heavy rains falling until near the end of the month, and the 

 drought which prevailed in October remained practically 

 unbroken. Streams and wells were unusually low and in 

 many places completely exhausted. 



The average temperature was practically normal. High 

 temperatures prevailed on the 9th to 12th and on the 17th, 

 while an unusually low temperature was recorded on the 

 morning of the 30th, the thermal temperature falling to 

 within from 10 to 5 degrees of zero. Traces of snow fell 

 during the month. 



December was one of the warmest Decembers on record, 

 the mean temperature for Massachusetts averaging about 8° 

 above the normal for the month. Unusually high tempera- 

 tures occurred on the 4th, 10th and 23d, all during southerly 

 winds. The minimum temperature for the month occurred 

 on the 17th, but was generally not so low as occurred in 

 November, — an unusual occurrence. The high temperature 

 served to keep the ground remarkably free from frost, to 

 cause some unseasonable blossoming of plants, and to produce 

 some dangerous forwarding of fruit buds. 



The precipitation was slightly in excess, being unusually 

 heavy during the last week of the month. Very little snow fell 

 and none remained on the ground at the end of the month. 



