72 
GEOLOGY OF NORTF CAROLINA. 
The coldest station is Boone, (which is also the highest) ; and the 
warmest is Smithville. It would be a matter of much interest to have a 
record of observations for the plateau of upper Linville, at the foot of the 
Grandfather, nearly 1,000 feet higher than Boone. We should then have 
both extremes. The annual mean temperature for the western division 
is 53°. 1. If we take only the three highest stations, (those nearest to 
this plateau), the average is 51° ; the two highest give 50 c .2 ; the single 
highest, 18°.7. The difference of the isotherms for Asheville and Boone 
is 5°. 6, for a difference of 1,000 feet in elevation ; and a difference of 300 
feet between Asheville and Bakersville gives l u .8, or 6° per 1,000 feet: 
so that it is quite within limits to place the isotherms for the Linville pla- 
teau at 15°. Taking that for Boone as representing the lower extreme, 
the isothermal range within the State is 17° : if the conjectural number 
for the Linville section be substituted, it is above 20°. 
And there are many other regional and local climatic peculiarities which 
are well worthy of study, as for example, the very low range of the thermal 
means at the Statesville station, which is in fact climatically allied to the 
western instead of the middle section ; and, by contrast, the higher range 
of the Lenoir station, which is more elevated and much nearer the Blue 
Ridge ; and yet other phenomena not shown in the tabular abstracts, as 
the singular manner in which areas of sudden winter cold, approaching 
from higher latitudes protrude long and narrow sinuses across the State, 
leaving parallel tracts, east and west, little or not at all affected; and 
again the sudden reduction of the temperature over a limited tract, un- 
connected with any other area from which it could have been propagated, 
as if a tract of the upper strata of cold air had dropped from the clouds. 
These and a multitude of interesting meteorological phenomena must 
wait until another volume, for discussion, and even for adequate state- 
ment. 
Such are some of the more notable points which are obvious from a 
simple inspection of the table and a comparison of its different parts 
amony themselves. 
If a wider comparison be instituted between these columns and similar 
abstracts of temperature observations for other states and countries, yet 
more important features emerge. 
To begin with one of the last points mentioned, — the isothermal 
ran o-e. —while it is not less than 20° in North Carolina, it is 8° in New 
York, and 6° in Massachusetts. And any one who will take the trouble 
to trace the isotherm of 66° and 45° across the continent, as in Blodget’s 
charts, for example, will be able to realize the marvellous extent of the 
climatic range which the territory of one State presents. The former,. 
