Cambridge, Mass.
1899.
February.  
  The first half of February was steadily cold, the mer-
cury falling to zero on the 9th & 12th, to 5 [degrees] below zero on 
the 10th, to 6 [degrees]  below on the 11th, and rising above 32 [degrees] only
once - on the 4th at noon when it reached 38 [degrees]. The 1st, 2nd,
9th,10th and 15th were the only perfectly clear days. About
three inches of snow fell on the 3rd, two inches on the 5th,
four inches on the 7th, six inches on the 8th, six inches
on the 12th and sixteen inches on the 13th.
  On the 16th the weather moderated and continued mild to
the end of the month, the temperature rising above 40 [degrees] almost
every day and seldom falling much below 30Î_ at night, the ex-
tremes being 48 [degrees] (reached at noon on the 17th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and
27th) and 19 [degrees] (at 6 A.M. on the 26th). During most of this
period the sky was cloudless, the air brilliantly clear and
there was almost no wind. The only precipitation came in the
form of a light rain on the night of the 26th and the forenoon
of the 27th.
  The snow storm of the 12th & 13th was characterized by
the Boston Transcript as "one of the greatest known in the
past thirty-two years". It extended over the whole of the
eastern United States and was everywhere accompanied by low
temperature and violent North to North-east winds which drift-
ed the snow badly, the railroads being almost completely
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