Meteorological Observations at Hudson, Ohio. 321 



I have said that this question of the wind's progress does not 

 mean towards what point does the wind blow most frequently. 

 If we arrange the observations under the heads north, south, east 

 and west, so that when an observation falls, for example, be- 

 tween north and west, it shall be counted in each of those col- 

 umns, we obtain the following result of the number of observa- 

 tions for the three years. 



It appears then that at 9 A. M. the wind has blown most fre- 

 quently from a southern quarter, and at 3 P. M. from a northern, 

 but that on the whole the wind has blown at 221 observations 

 more from the south than the north; and if we take these num- 

 bers to represent the relative progress of the wind in the direc- 

 tion of the four cardinal points, we shall have the wind's mean 

 direction S. 76° 11' W. 



The preceding results will enable us to appreciate various 

 statements and conclusions which have recently been published. 

 Thus in the New York Regents' Report for 1840, Mr. Coifin has 

 deduced the mean direction of the wind for the state of New 

 York from twelve years' observations at the different academies, 

 S. 76° 54' W., a result almost identical with my own given 

 above ; and instead of being surprised at this, we ought rather to 

 have been surprised if the case had been otherwise : for Hudson 

 is situated near the highest point of an immense territory, which 

 is nearly a plane surface. For more than a thousand miles to the 

 west of us, there is not an eminence materially higher than this 

 station. No spot then could perhaps be selected more entirely 

 free from local influence than this, while the academies of New 

 York being scattered over a surface exceedingly diversified, are 

 subjected many of them to strong local influences, which, how- 

 ever, are mostly neutralized in taking the mean of observations 

 at fifty difl'erent stations. The New York academies are nearly 

 in the same latitude with Hudson, and the winds are observed 

 twice a day, A. M. and P. M. at hours not stated, but probably 

 not difl'ering much from my own. The above direction, how- 

 ever, (S. 76° 54' W.) denotes merely the point from which the 

 wind most frequently blows, and the Hudson observations afford 

 reason to believe that throughout the entire State of New York 



Vol. xLi, No. 2.— July-Sept. 1841. 41 



