E. Loomis— Observations of the U. 8. Signal Service. 15 
stated is the observation at Davenport, which appears suspicious, 
since at the afternoon observation of the same day, the upper 
clouds were reported from the northwest. Generally through- 
out the eastern half of these low areas the lower clouds were 
dense and unbroken, so that there was no opportunity to obtain 
observations of the direction of the upper clouds, but in several 
cases observations were made which indicated a circulation of 
the winds at the height of the upper clouds similar to that de- 
scribed for Oct. 21.1. This is seen in the observations of Nos. 
8, 24, 29, 30, 35 and 36. 
In table III the velocity of the wind on the north side of 
the low areas was nearly double that on the south side, and 
this northerly wind extended to a considerable height, as is 
shown by the observations on Pike’s Peak. The following 
observations show the direction and force of the wind on that 
a movement of the upper clouds from the west or northwest 
over nearly the whole of the United States from the Pacific 
Ocean to the Atlantic; and throughout the western half of this 
region the movement was mainly from the northwest. At no 
station were the upper clouds reported as moving from the south- 
east, east or northeast, and at only one station were they reported 
from the south. At the thirty-nine dates enumerated in table 
IH, there were only five cases in which the upper clouds were 
reported from the east at any station which could be regarded 
as included within the system of circulating winds here con- 
sidered ; there were five cases in which the clouds were reported 
from the southeast, and thirty-one cases in which the clouds 
were reported as moving from the south, and about half of 
these cases occurred Feb. 22d, when storm No. IV was losing 
its previous character and preparing to change its course from 
south to east. These facts seem to indicate that the surface 
winds which prevailed on the south and east sides of the low 
areas enumerated in table ITI, were not only dry and feeble, 
but extended to a less height than the southerly winds which 
attended the storms enumerated in table II. 
These facts seem to indicate that at the time of the observa- 
tions in table II, there was an unusually strong current from 
the south or southeast, which reached to a height of over 10,000 
feet, and swept over a considerable portion of the United States ; 
