250 THE CLIMATE OF CECIL COUNTY 



of Cecil county. The record was maintained without interruption 

 for nearly eleven years, from March, 1865, to December, 1875, and 

 forms the basis of the present discussion of the climatic conditions 

 of the county. Observations were regularly made at 7 A. M., 2 

 P. M. and 9 P. M., the hours uniformly adopted by the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and include a record of temperature, atmospheric pres- 

 sure, rainfall, humidity, the direction and force of the wind, the 

 state of the weather, and the notation of special features, such as 

 thunderstorms, high winds, optical phenomena, frosts, etc. Wood- 

 lawn is situated about three miles to the east, and somewhat north, 

 of Port Deposit, longitude 76° 4' west of Greenwich, and north 

 latitude 39° 38', with an elevation of 465 feet above sea-level. The 

 location of Woodlawn gives it a climate which is fairly representative 

 of the Piedmont Plateau region of Cecil county. In April, 1897, a 

 station w 7 as established by the Maryland State Weather Service at 

 Port Deposit in connection with the Jacob Tome Institute. The obser- 

 vations w r ere made by Mr. A. L. Lamb, from April to July, 1897, and 

 by Mr. J. P. Prance, from September, 1897, to December, 1899, in 

 accordance with the plans of the Maryland State Weather Service 

 and the United States Weather Bureau, and include a record of tem- 

 perature at 8 A. M. and 8 P. M., the maximum and minimum tem- 

 peratures of the day, rainfall, snowfall, prevailing direction of the 

 wind, state of the weather, and special phenomena. This record is 

 incomplete, owing to the lack of observations during midsummer. 



The average monthly and annual values for temperature, rainfall 

 and snowfall, deduced from the Woodlawn observations for eleven 

 years, as well as the extreme values, are given in detail in the accom- 

 panying tables and diagrams. The original records of observations 

 are in the office of the United States Weather Bureau at Washington, 

 D. C.j all the meteorological records of the Smithsonian Institution 

 having been placed in the custody of the National AVeather Bureau 

 in 1891. 



Temperature Conditions. 



The Woodlawn observations offer a favorable opportunity for the 

 study of variation in temperature conditions. Ordinarily a period of 



