PRECIPITATION AND THE STORM-CENTRE. 



563 



localities in the United States where rain-falls of more than three inches occurred, 

 with the several dates, also the. direction and approximate distance of ''low" 

 from the locality of the storm ; 



STATION. 



Flushing, N. Y . . . 

 Ft. Barrancas, Fla . 

 Colebrook, Conn . . 

 Newark, N. J . . . 

 Boston, Mass. . . . 

 Charleston, S. C . . 

 Mt. Sterhng, 111 

 Mt. Desert, Me. . . 

 Wood's Holl, Mass . 



Elmira, 111 



Springfield, Mo. . . 

 Green Springs, Ala . 

 Ft. Barrancas, Fla . 

 Spring Garden, Tenn 



DIR. OF ST M- 

 CENTRE DUR- 

 ING STORM. 



N. NW. 

 N. NW. 



W. 



N. 



NW. 



S. 



W. NW. 



NW. 



NE. 

 W. NW. 



NW. 



W. 



sw. 



N. 



DISTANCE 

 OF SAME. 



500 

 1000 

 600 

 400 

 700 

 800 

 400 

 400 

 400 



400 



200 



400 



TOGO 



The table gives fourteen storms, while the Signal Officer's report for the 

 month names seven additional ones ; but these not belonging to " charted storms " 

 could not be included in the table. Of these fourteen, eight occurred on the 

 right-hand side of the line of low pressure, and three of the remaining six, on ac- 

 count of the extraordinary direction taken by " low," took place on the left side 

 of it. These three were the storms at Mt. Sterling and Elmira, 111., and at 

 Springfield, Mo., accompanying the storm-centre which passed over central Iowa 

 on the 1 8th and on the 19th changed its course to the south, then to the west, 

 and was last reported from southern Nebraska on the 20th. These three storms, 

 though occurring to the left of the line of low pressure, were in localities where 

 southerly winds prevailed, and hence were the results of precisely the same 

 causes that produced the eight storms belonging to the other half of the storm- 

 area. Of the remaining three storms, one occurred at Green Springs, Ala., on 

 the 29th, and another the next day at Ft. Barrancas, Fla. They both belonged 

 to a storm-area which also took an unusual course, viz : from north to south. 

 Since "low" passed through the State of Mississippi the localities named were 

 on the left side of the track ; but in these instances the excessive precipitation 

 was due to the mingling of the saturated surface winds from the Gulf with the 

 cooler air of a higher stratum, as it ascended in the vicinity of the storm-centre. 



The storm at Charleston on the 13th, may not have belonged to the storm-area 

 whose centre was 800 miles to the south, but to another whose centre was 1,000 

 miles to the northwest. I, think it more probable that it belonged to the latter, 

 from the fact that the effects of the passage of " low " are felt much farther on 

 land than on the sea. This latter fact is easily accounted for ; since the sea ab- 

 sorbs the solar heat, while the land surface parts with it readily by radiation, thus 



