“B12 West and North-west Winds of New England. 
the south-west ; anda third, still higher, moving fr from the — 
north-east: the stream of air from the south-west having 
been forced from the surface by that which carri aie 
thunder-cloud. ae 
The next morning, the dearée of cold was stronolyte 
dicated by the brilliant white of Saddle mountain, covered. 
with snow ; by the less perfect white of the Green Moun- 
tains, and the Taghkannue ; ; and by the icicles, which, not 
less than ten inches in length, we saw depending from. the 
eaves of the houses on our route. This intense cold was 
produced within the compass of little more thanan hour ; 
during which time the north-west wind blew at the rate’ of 
from thirty to forty miles. The south-west wind of the 
_ preceding day was obviously a general wind ; and spread 
over a great extent of country. The weather throughout 
the whole of the preceding summer, and the autumn to that 
time, had been warm. A north-west wind, therefore, had 
it blown along the surface for a considerable distance, 
would have been colder than the south-west, only because 
it wae more violent: and this fact would have varied the 
temperature very little. ‘The north-west air, which first 
visited Pittsfield, must have been that, which rested on the 
earth between this town and Albany; the next hour, the 
volume between Albany and Johnstown; and the next, 
that between Johnstown and Whitestown. The whole of 
this division of the atmosphere cannot have differed senst- 
bly from that, which we found at Pittsfield, when we arri- 
ved. In this case, the cold, if it had existed at all, as it 
must have been the result of a wind blowing, for a consid- 
erable length of time, and over a great extent of country, 
would have come on eradually. But the actual cold was 
instantaneous, and intense. ‘The storm brought with if the 
snow and frost ; and deposited the whole mass of snow, 
which on Saddle mountain must by the appearance have 
been from six to twelve inches deep, within the compass of 
an hour. This wind, therefore, certainly came from the 
higher regions of the atmosphere. 
‘¢ Similar facts [T have observed in many instances: al- 
though I do not remember any in which the particulars 
were so strongly marked. 
“On Christmas day, in the year 1794, a fresh wind blew 
from the south-east during the whole day, and was so warm 
