THE TEXAN MONSOONS. 
307 
The north winds or winter monsoons are not so favorable 
for Texas, but at the same time they are not less favorable 
than are the prevailing westerly winds over the States 
far to the north of it. The “ norther ” is an occasional phe¬ 
nomenon, not more common than the “cold wave” of the 
upper Mississippi valley. Severe and destructive “ north¬ 
ers ” are quite exceptional. 
The eastern limit of the Texan summer monsoons has 
already been referred to as not easy to define. There is no 
good evidence of them east of the Mississippi river south of 
the Ohio except on the Gulf coast. A prevailing south 
wind in June occurs at Cairo, but not below that place 
until the vicinity of the Gulf is reached. New Orleans has 
a northeast wind more than a quarter of the time in May, 
but no wind there reaches this frequency during the other 
months of the year. With Mobile the case is different. A 
south wind is the most frequent there from March to June, 
agreeing so far with the summer monsoon, but it fails with 
July, just when this monsoon is best established in Texas 
and northward. In September a prevailing north wind sets 
in, two months before it sets in on the Texan coast, and this 
wdnd continues until February. A south or southwest wind 
prevails at Pensacola from May to July and a north wind 
occurs in winter, reaching, however, a frequency of one-fourth 
only in November. 
It appears that on the Gulf coast the monsoons are felt 
at Mobile and perhaps a little further eastward. The winter 
monsoon comes on prematurely at Mobile. 
