x BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



precipitation was nearly one inch below the average. The 

 thunder-storms were neither frequent nor unusually heavy. 



The weather for September was characterized by an excep- 

 tionally high temperature, high barometric pressure, a decided 

 excess of sunshine, a light wind movement, a small amount of 

 cloudiness and number of rainy days, and a deficient rainfall. 



The pressure was nearly one-tenth inch above the normal. 

 The temperature was from three to five degrees above the 

 normal, with few excessive ranges or rapid changes. The 

 mean temperature at New Bedford was 5.3° above the aver- 

 age of seventy-nine years. In the records of that station, 

 September, 1819, 1822, 1826, 1846, 1865, and 1881, show 

 a higher mean temperature than was registered in September, 

 1891. The highest temperature occurred generally on the 

 18th, under clear skies and with hot southerly winds. Slight 

 frosts occurred in low lands on the 9th, doing little or no 

 damage, but generally the night temperatures were unusually 

 high. 



The total precipitation was considerably below the normal, 

 although a few stations along the coast reported a slight 

 excess. The greater part of the rainfall for the month 

 occurred in the storm of the 5th to 7th. The western sec- 

 tion received very little rain during that storm, consequently 

 the least precipitation was generally in the western part of 

 the State. 



The weather for Massachusetts for October was character- 

 ized by a normal pressure, excessive precipitation on the 

 coast, high wind velocities and extremes of heat and cold. 

 A correspondent in Randolph wrote: "Strawberry short- 

 cake from berries picked in the open air, snakes, lightning, 

 frost and snow, make a month of delightful irregularity." 

 The areas of high and low pressure were generally well 

 marked and followed each other in rapid succession across 

 or near New England, giving, with the attendant winds, 

 that marked influence on our weather that is so characteristic 

 of New England falls and winters. On the 4th, under 

 generally clear skies and warm southerly winds, a maximum 

 temperature of from 80° to 90° was experienced. The tem- 

 perature fell steadily through the 27th, and with only a slight 

 rise on the 28th, to a very low minimum on the morning of 

 the 29th. The first hard frost of the season occurred at 



