E. Loomis— Observations of the U. S. Signal Service. 5 
were crossed in the latitudes 49°°6, 58°-0 and 638°°3. Since the 
storm centers generally passed 800 miles north of London, 
most of them did not exhibit much violence on the English 
coast. In half of the cases, the highest velocity reported was 8, 
denoting a very fresh breeze, and in only six of the cases was 
the velocity at any station on the English coast as high as 5, 
denoting a gale. 
e may hence conclude that when a center of low pressure 
(below 29°5 inches) leaves the coast of the United States, the 
probability that it will pass over any part of England is only 
one in nine; the probability that it will give rise to a gale any- 
where near the English coast is only one in six; and the prob- 
ability that it will give rise to a very fresh breeze is one in two. 
ne of the most noticeable circumstances connected with 
Atlantic storms is their slow rate of progress. This is due 
partly to the erratic course of the center of the low area, and 
partly to the frequent blending of two low areas into one, 
whence it generally results that the most eastern center appears 
to be pushed backward toward the west. In my eighth paper 
Thave described a remarkable example of this kind of move- 
ment. In like manner the storms numbered 85, 89, 41, 51, 53, 
70 and 72 of the preceding table appeared to be pushed west- 
ward by blending with storms of a subsequent date. Aside 
from this cause of detention, there seems in the Atlantic Ocean 
to be a special cause which frequently holds storms nearly sta- 
tionary in position from day to day, and this cause is probably 
the abundance of warm vapor rising from the Gulf Stream, 
m close proximity to the cold dry air from the neighboring 
coast of North America. Hence we see that when American 
storms are predicted to appear upon the European coast, and it 
18 assumed that they will cross the ocean at the same rate as 
they have crossed the United States, such predictions will sel- 
dom be verified 
ated in the preceding table and which have been traced across 
the Atlantic (Nos. 51 and 70), appear to have originated over 
the Atlantic Ocean; five of them (Nos. 46, 52, 54, 73 and 75), 
*ppear to have originated in Texas or its vicinity ; lour ot 
meat (Nos. 67, 69, 71 and 74), appeared to originate in the mid- 
¢ latitudes, but considerably east of the Rocky Mountains; 
about half of the whole number appear to have originated 1 
the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains; that is, it 1s diffi- 
