THE KANSAS WEATHER SERVICE. . 585 



pened to us more than once, when on a visit at friend's house, to find that durino- 



O 



dinner the servants had carefully shut the windows, and thus secured — for us at 

 least — the luxury of a restless night. Perhaps in Shakespeare's day malaria might 

 have been more common than in the present time, and to shun the night air was 

 therefore good policy. There are even yet districts in England where we should 

 not prefer to sleep with open windows in an autumn night. 



To conclude these somewhat random remarks we will quote a very faithful 

 description of the hush which often precedes a storm : 



" But as we often see against some storm 

 A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still, 

 The bold winds speechless, and the orb below 

 •As hush as death ; anon the dreadful thunder 

 Doth rend the region." 



Hamlet, Act II., Sc. 7. 



This passage, like the account of the wet season which we cited above, is evi- 

 dently the fruit of personal observation, and not of tradition. — London Journal of 

 Science. 



REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 

 WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 



BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 



The weather in the first decade of this report was characterized by extreme 

 cloudiness although the precipitation was small. During the last two decades 

 the mean temperature has been much lower. 



A very cold period began on the 17th which reached its culmination on the 

 2 1 st, when the low temperature of — 21° was recorded. The most disagreeable 

 day to be out was the 20th, the temperature not rising above zero the entire day 

 and a strong north wind prevailing. 



A snow storm on the 15th brought four and a half inches of snow which 

 gave a week of tolerable sleighing. 



On the evening of the i8th a brilliant lunar halo was observed, the Moon 

 being near the zenith and both a primary and a secondary arc were visible for 

 nearly 180° on the south side of the Moon. The former was about 50° from the 

 Moon and the prismatic colors well defined. The secondary arc was about 20° 

 from the Moon and fainter — the prismatic colors being wanting. 



The usual summary by decades is given below. 



