CLIMATE. 91 



up to your throat. At 8.30, you unbutton two of the upper 

 buttons ; at 9, you unbutton the coat all the way down ; at 

 9.30, you take it off; at 10, you take off your woolen coat, 

 and put on a summer coat ; at 11, you take off all your 

 woolen and put on light summer clothing ; at 2, it begins to 

 grow cool, arid you have to put on your woolen again ; and 

 by 7 o'clock, your overcoat is buttoned to the chin, and you 

 si liver until bedtime." 



The coolness of the summer is caused by the winds and 

 fogs, which blow in from the ocean, whose temperature at the 

 Farallones never varies more than a degree or two from 42. 

 A strong wind blows along the Coast from the north and 

 northwest during almost the whole year ; and it blows strong- 

 ly upon the land for several hours after eleven o'clock in the 

 morning, and after five in the evening, and not unfrequently 

 it continues the whole twenty-four hours. The common prev- 

 alence of this wind during the afternoon, renders the morn- 

 ings the pleasantest part of the summer weather in San Fran- 

 cisco ; and the more delicate and fashionabie ladies habitually 

 make their calls and allow their children to go into the street 

 only before mid-day. In June, July, and August, heavy, wet, 

 cold mists come up from the sea at six in the evening, and 

 continue until eight or nine in the morning. In the winter, 

 fogs are rarer, and do not commence so early in the evenings, 

 and the winds are not so strong ; so that, in these respects, the 

 winter is the pleasanter season of the year. 



The mean temperatures of spring, summer, autumn, and win- 

 ter, are 54, 57, 56, and 50 respectively, showing a differ- 

 ence of only seven degrees between the average of winter and 

 summer ; whereas a similar comparison in the climate of Xew 

 York city, shows a difference of thirty-nine degrees. There is 

 a range of two degrees more in San Francisco by taking the 

 months separately January, the coldest month, having a mean 

 temperature of 49, and September, the warmest, a mean of 

 58. October is as warm as July, and in some years it has 



