1901.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — Xo. 33. 89 



REPORT OF THE METEOROLOGIST. 



JOHN E. OSTRANDEK. 



During the year, as in previous years, the work of this 

 division has been mainly that of taking observations of the 

 various features of the weather, and transcribing the records 

 in convenient form for reference and preservation. With 

 the report of last year were published the means of many of 

 the records for a period of ten years. These results are now 

 assumed to indicate normal conditions at this station, and 

 the monthly means are compared with them, for the purpose 

 of determining variation from the normal. 



Bulletins of four pages each have been regularly issued at 

 the beginning of each month, giving the more important 

 daily records, together with mean monthly conditions and 

 remarks on any unusual features of the month. The usual 

 annual summary will be prepared and published with the 

 December bulletin. 



The New England section of the United States Weather 

 Bureau has furnished daily, except Sunday, throughout the 

 year the local forecasts for the weather of the following day, 

 and the signals have been displayed from the flag staff on the 

 tower. At the request of the section director, the weekly 

 snow reports are being sent to the Boston office this season, 

 as has been done the past few years. 



The observations for the determination of the amount of 

 soil moisture by the electrical method were started, but, 

 owing to the failure of the apparatus to give any concordant 

 results, the work was abandoned after an unsuccessful attempt 

 to remedy the defects. The electrodes tried were those that 

 last year gave fairly satisfactory results ; the reason for their 

 failure this year is not apparent. It is evident to the divi- 



