34 ° 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. Ill, No. 3 , 
meteorology of the state as far as it may have some part in the 
ecology of the region and it is the object of this paper to present 
the results of such investigations. 
In view of the two very important requisites to trustworthy 
averages ; — ( a ) records running through a long period of years 
and ($) as uniform distribution over the State as possible, the 
following stations were selected as representing the meteorologi- 
cal conditions of Ohio : Ashtabula, Cleveland, Findlay, Mont- 
pelier, Sandusky, Toledo, Wooster, New Alexandria, Columbus, 
Milligan, Marietta, Portsmouth, Clarksville, Cincinnati, and 
Greenville. 
These stations have records ranging in point of duration from 
six years at Ashtabula, eight years at Milligan, and ten years at 
Montpelier, on up to twenty-four years at Columbus and thirty- 
two years at Toledo, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Although it is 
claimed generally by meteorologists that a longer record is neces- 
sarv for accurate averages than is yet possessed by some of the 
stations named, it is believed, in view of the uniformity with 
which the stations having the shorter records have checked up 
with those having longer records, and in view of the fact that in 
cases of doubt records of neighboring stations were in several 
cases consulted, that very fair general averages have been obtained 
and that longer records will not materially alter our charts. 
Precipitation, Total. (Plate III Map II.) 
Taking up first the subject of precipitation we find no very 
great range in the normal annual amount. The valleys of the 
Ohio and Miami Rivers have the greatest precipitation, about 
forty inches per year, while the valley of the Maumee River has 
the least, — below thirty-five inches. 
Snowfall. (Plate III Map I.) 
Precipitation in the form of snow shows an entirely different 
set of averages from that of the total precipitation. The northern 
part of the state shows some very striking extremes. In less 
than one hundred miles along the shore of Lake Erie, — from 
Sandusky to Ashtabula, — the annual snowfall rises from thirty 
to sixty inches. South from Ashtabula the snowfall decreases to 
twenty inches in 150 miles, while a line drawn through the cen- 
tral part of the state from north to south would cover in 200 miles 
a range of but ten inches of snowfall. 
