No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xiii 



the 10th was quite cool, with heavy and killing frosts in the 

 interior. From the 13th to the 19th the range of mercury 

 was slightly below the usual figures, the 17th and 18th being 

 the coolest days, when the thermometer fell almost to the 

 freezing point. For the entire month, however, the temper- 

 ature was some 80° in excess of the normal. The maximum 

 temperatures of the month were registered generally on the 

 3d and 4th, and averaged about 85°. As a whole, the month 

 was favorable for out-door work, and outstanding crops 

 suffered little damage from frosts or storms. 



The weather for November marked the change from au- 

 tumn to the winter season with more than usual emphasis, 

 although the mean conditions of temperature and precipita- 

 tion snowed no remarkable departures from the monthly 

 normals. The highest temperatures were recorded during 

 the first few days of the month, the maximum being 63°, at 

 Boston, Concord and Vineyard Haven. The lowest tem- 

 peratures occurred principally on the 26th, 28th and 29th, 

 ranging from 8° at Monson to 28° at Nantucket. The 

 average precipitation was large. The great storm of the 

 26th-27th obscured all other meteorological features of the 

 month. This storm resulted from the union of two disturb- 

 ances, one moving from the Great Lakes, the other coming 

 up the Atlantic coast, and meeting off the New Jersey coast. 

 The combined storms then moved to the New England coast, 

 the pressure falling to about 29.40 inches. On the islands 

 of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard the precipitation was 

 mostly in the form of a pouring rain, while on the mainland 

 heavy, drifting snows prevailed. The storm reached its 

 greatest force in the forenoon of the 27th, and its entire 

 duration was about thirty hours. North to east gales of ex- 

 treme violence swept over the State. For many hours the 

 wind maintained a 50-mile velocity, the maximum, 78 miles 

 per hour from the north, occurring at Woods Hole. Not 

 in the history of the present generation has there been such 

 a record of devastation and death as that which was disclosed 

 after the passage of this storm. 



December was characterized by a smaller amount of rain 

 and snow than usual, and rapid changes between the extremes 

 of heat and cold. The temperature was below the average. 



