WEATHER PROVERBS. 
759 
Mean Temperatures. 
5' 
H 
ft 
3 
y 
2 
X 
H 
ft 
3 
72.C 
65.0 
69.0 
71-5 
61.0 
62.0 
67-5 
55-f 
74-5 
66.0 
680 
74-0 
67.0 
61.5 
73-0 
67.0 
63.0 
66.9 
3 
ft 
p- 
tn 
48 
58 
36 
42 
53 
61 
49 
72 
34 
50 
15 
54 
36 
64 
17 
57 
50 
47 
N 
m 

CL 
P 
C/5 
B 

5' 

ft 
(n 
p 
5' 
H' 
n 
ft 
c 
3 
a. 
ft 
•-! 
-1 
3 
tn 
n 
O- ft 
tn 
yi 
ft* 
tn 

5' 



n 
P 
U) 

3 

1867—68 
1868-69 
1869—70 
1870—71 
1871—72 
1872-73 
1873—74 
1874-75 
1875-76 
1876—77 
1877-78 
1878-79 
1879—80 
1880—81 
1881—82 
1882—83 
1883—84 
34-50 
24.29 
29.92 
28.70 
24.91 
19-93 
31-37 
31.01 
39-35 
23 60 
44-43 
23-05 
26.23 
2584 
40.10 
31-25 
33-72 
23.67 
30-50 
29-43 
28.86 
24-35 
18.61 
28.01 
15.60 
34-70 
25.60 
33-97 
23-49 
41.23 
21.60 
32.68 
19.65 
20.99 
35-71 
30.63 
35-42 
35-30 
3044 
30.26 
27-05 
21.92 
37.80 
3965 
40.22 
3406 
37-58 
25.78 
41.65 
27.92 
28.03 
31.29 
2849 
31.59 
30.95 
26.57 
22.93 
28.96 
32.84 
37.28 
29 62 
39.54 
26.87 
35-OI 
2441 
38.14 
26.27 
27.58 
- 7-0 
-16.5 
- 4.0 
-10. 
-12.0 
-26.0 
- 2.5 
-16.5 
- 50 
- 9-0 
7-5 
-16.0 
- 9.0 
-12.0 
5-0 
-14.0 
-21.5 
3 
5 
2 
8 
II 
17 
I 
14 
2 
6 

13 
2 
6 

9 
8 
7 
6.50 
25-25 
8.50 
21.50 
14.50 
30.00 
21.00 
11.50 
25 
14 00 
3.00 
25.25 
3.00 
24.00 
5.00 
14.50 
16.00 
6.47 
1-57 
4.26 
2. II 
4.76 
7.69 
2.09 
4.48 
2.40 
8.12 
276 
4-92 
5-37 
3,26 
4.28 
3-18 
4-23 
1 
I 

2 

I 
3 
I 
3 

4 

2 


I 
I 
I 
48.11 
4983 
54-55 
47 63 
4578 
5870 
50.77 
43.16 
44.60 
5319 
45-59 
41-75 
5562 
50.82 
5561 
47.33 
• - 
35.293 
34,652 
34,364 
43,057 
27,959 
28,042 
27,502 
37,543 
35,995 
36,259 
34,366 
39,790 
I 
6 
7 
6 
5 
3 
6 
2 
2 
3 

II 
8 
5 
8 
6 
Mean . 
30.13 
26.64 
32.91 
29.90 
-10 8 
14-34 
49-57 
34,568 
5 
WEATHER PROVERBS. 
S. A. MAXWELL. 
A copy of Signal Service Notes, No. IX, ''Weather Proverbs," lies before 
me, and in looking it over I am by turns amused, instructed, and disgusted ; 
amused as Heraclitus used to be at the follies of mankind, disgusted as Sam 
Johnson was, by populai ignorance, and instructed when I find a truth hidden 
away like a pearl in a heap of refuse shells. 
I do not criticise either the book or its author ; since, as I understand, the 
compilation was made merely with a view to condense in book form all the 
weather-sayings of the peoples of different ages and nations, omitting nothing 
on account of its absurdity. My purpose will be to explain the cause or causes 
of certain phenomena taken as storm-forecasts, and also to prove the falsity of 
others too frequently relied on as infallible. 
In the very able paper by the Hon. Ralph Abercromby with which Part I 
of the book begins, I find some statements which at least suggest the following 
explanations. He speaks of the " winds backing around in front of a depression 
to the south from the southwest," just as if this was what it really does do, when 
in fact it must move in the opposite direction, viz: from southeast to southwest, 
since the areas of barometric depression move almost invariably in an easterly 
direction, both in this country and in Great Britain. A curious fact concerning 
the winds about a storm-centre is this, that, of two places on the same latitude 
