98 
GEOLOGY CE NORTH CAROLINA. 
The most striking general feature of the table is the predominance of 
westerly winds in all the divisions, and at nearly all the stations. A 
little closer inspection discovers that this predominance is most decided in 
the western region, and very slight in the eastern. It is worthy of note 
further, that while the winds which make up this result, in the average 
for the state, are nearly equally distributed to the three octants, S. W., 
W., and N. W., with a slight plurality of days to the first, in each of the 
different sub-divisions, it is due to the preponderance of a different 
octant, viz : of the S. W., in the eastern ; ]S T . W., in the middle ; and W., 
in the western section ; this preponderance being very marked in the 
last case. After the westerly winds, it will be observed that the next 
class in order of frequency is the northerly, except on the immediate sea- 
coast, where the preponderance passes to the southerly, from the great 
frequency of the winds from the S. W. ; and the most infrequent in all 
sections and at nearly ail the stations, are the easterly winds. And if 
only the E. octant is considered, it will be seen that in the general average 
for the State, the prevalence of this wind is limited to about two weeks ; 
and if two stations be omitted, the average would fall to 11 days in the 
year for all the others. But at Franklin this octant is credited with a 
number of days only second to that of the W. ; and at "Wilmington it 
reaches nearly a month. 
If the distribution of the winds be examined in reference to the sea- 
sons, it appears that in the State as a whole, the S. W. wind is prepon- 
derant in the spring and summer, and in the autumn and winter the FT. 
W. and 1ST. E. octants divide the sway with it almost equally ; and the 
same statement holds for the eastern section with a more decided empha- 
sis on the first of it, while in the middle region the prevalent winds are 
those from the three westerly octants with the northeastern, the N. W. 
having the advantage in spring, autumn and winter, the S. W. (slightly) in 
summer, the iN". E. direction being more common in autumn and winter 
than the S. W., and of almost as frequent occurrence in spring and summer. 
In the western division the most common wind in all seasons is that from 
the W., its preponderance being most decided however, in winter and 
spring. 
If the stations be considered individually, the most remarkable local 
peculiarities are, the prevalence at Boone of winds from the W. fully 
two-thirds of the year, at Lenoir the predominance of the 1ST. W., at 
Greensboro of the W., and at Eiewbern of the S. W. octant ; and the 
occurrence of E. wfinds for nearly two months at Franklin, while at Ox- 
ford this octant is wanting altogether. 
These are some of the salient points, obvious on a cursory inspection 
