336 
CLINE. 
places. These hot currents occur in groups, covering, as a 
rule, a territory of a few hundred acres. The currents are 
separated from each other by only short distances, ranging 
from a few yards up to a few hundred yards. Sometimes 
groups of hot winds separated by only a few miles cover 
several counties, and again several miles intervene between 
such groups. In this manner an occurrence of these winds 
sometimes covers the whole or part of a State or two or 
three States. 
The tremor of heat, similar to that seen rising from a 
hot furnace, is sometimes distinctly visible in these currents. 
Observers who do not note the distinct currents, as well as 
those who record this feature, refer to these winds, as a rule, 
as “ hot winds,” and not a hot w T ind. We have no definite 
record of the temperature of the “ hot winds”' * themselves, 
but the thermometers in the affected district range gener¬ 
ally, during the prevalence of these winds, from 100° to 110° 
in the shade, and at times even higher. During hot winds 
in Texas July 18, 1886, the thermometer at Abilene regis¬ 
tered 109.8° in a standard roof shelter of the Signal Serv¬ 
ice. The temperature in the sun was taken by myself and 
others, and 140° was recorded at a short distance from the 
office instruments, with wind blowing from seven to four¬ 
teen miles per hour from the south, except at 1:21 p. m. 
(local time), when it was southwest. During hot winds in 
Texas May 29, 1892, a rise in temperature of seven degrees 
was noted between 5:01 p. m. and 5:11 p. m. (local time), an 
hour of the day when the temperature should have been 
falling. The local and special hot winds (hot currents), 
as noted in connection with a general hot w T ind, is a char¬ 
acteristic which T do not find to have been noted in connec¬ 
tion with the warm winds of other regions in this country 
or elsewhere, notably the foehn, the chinook, the simoom, 
-The term “hot winds” in this memoir will refer to the intensely- 
heated currents, while the term “general hot winds” will refer to the. 
movement of the generally heated atmosphere prevailing with such hot 
current, 
