Ill 



The Climate of the United States compared nvith 

 that of Europe in respect to the Winds ^ the 

 quantity of Rain^ Evaporation^ and Electricity* 



After all that has been said of the winds, it be- 

 comes easier to form a clear and general idea of the 

 climate of this extensive comitry. Since we know, 

 that the pi'edominant winds here come almost di- 

 rectly from the torrid zone or the frigid, we conceive 

 why we have sueh striking contrasts of heat and 

 cold, and why the climate is so variable and capri- 

 cious : as we understand, that one of the prevailing 

 winds, the south-west, blows from a warm sea, ano- 

 ther, the north-east, from a very cold ocean, and the 

 third, the north-west, from frozen deserts, we per- 

 ceive the reason why these are clear and dry, wet, or 

 foggy. We even divine the exceptions, that certain 

 local circumstances can and must occasion to these 

 general rules ; and we naturally infer, that a dry 

 wind may become rainy, if in its course it meet with 

 watery surfaces, as those of lakes, marshes, and the 

 extended lines of rivers; as occurs in the country of 

 Genessee, where it rains with a north-west wind, 

 on account of the lakes Ontario and Huron, and with 

 a south-west wind, in consequence of lake Erie ; 

 while the north-east and east, so rainy on the coast, 

 are there dry.* On the contrary, a rainy wind may 



* In like manner, at the sources of the Wabash and of the two 

 great Miamis it rains with every wind: at Gallipolis, on the Ohio, it 

 rains particularly with a west and south-west wind, while lower 

 down, at Cincinnati, the west wind is dry, and it rains with the 

 north west. 



