CLIMATE AND TEMPERATURE. rods to the westward of this cavern there SECTION III. Climate and Meteorology. Temperature. Though situated in the Rutland Burlington. Windsor. places in this state, was as follows: Mont- pelier -40°, White River -40°, Bradford -38°, Newbury -36°, Norwich -36°, Windsor -34°, Hydepark -36°, Rutland -30°, and Burlington --26°; and the temperature varied but little from the above at those places on the 18th of De- cember. For some time after the first settlement of Vermont the thermometer was hardly known in this part of the country; and since that instrument has become common, very few meteorological journals have been kept, and those few have not, in general, been kept with suffi- cient care to render them of much value, nor have many of them been preserved in a condition to be accessible to those who may wish to consult them. And hence we possess few accurate data, either for determining the mean annual tempera- ture of the different sections of the state, or for settling the mooted question with regard to a change of climate correspond- ing to the clearing and cultivating of the country. The results of the principal ob- servations, to which we have access, and which have been made in this state, to ascertain the temperature of the months 29.3 23.6 24.7 19.1 26 21.1 26.4 Meteorological observations at Williamstown by Hon. Elijah Paine. 1829 1830 1831|1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 11.4 10.9 17.1 19.3 12.5 17.9 17.3 9.7 23.9 15.3 9.0 21.6 10.9 14.3 14.6 14.6 13.5 26.5 12.6 10.5 16.7 9.9 20.8 23.7 15.8 MEAN TEMPERATURE AT BURLINGTON AND WILLIAMSTOWN. WINDS. earth; the temperature of these may, therefore, be regarded as a pretty fair indication of the mean annual temperature of the climate. The temperature of a well 40 feet deep, belonging to Mr. Samuel Reed, in Burlington, has been observed and noted during the year 1841 as follows, the first number after the day of the month being the depth in feet to the surface of the water at the time of the observation: Jan. 1, 14-46°, Feb. 12, 18-441°, April 14, 16-44°, June 1, 10— 44°, July 20, 10—46§o, and Dec. 8, 20— 45°, giving a mean of 45.1°, or .3o higher than that deduced from the daily obser With the exception of the first three by the changes of temperature which are columns in the first of the two preceding constantly going on at the surface of the tables, the particulars of which are not known, all the means for the months have been deduced from three daily observations, taken at sun-rise, 1 o'clock, P. M. and 9 in the evening. Now, as the three daily observations at Burlington synchronize for several years with those at Williamstown, the two tables enable us to make a very accurate comparison of the mean temperature of the two places; and the comparison shows that the mean temperature of Burlington, although situated 22' farthest north, is about 5 warmer than that of Williamstown, that of the former being 44.69 and the latter 39.4°. But the cause of this difference is obvi-vations. ous in the location of the two places, Bur- Winds. For small sections of country lington being situated on the margin of the prevailing winds usually take their lake Champlain, and the place of observation elevated only 250 feet above it, while Williamstown lies among the Green Mountains near the geographical centre of the state, and, the place of Judge Paine's observation, elevated 1500 feet above the lake.* The mean annual temperature of Burlington, deduced from all of the 12 years observations in the preceding table, is 44.1°, and from the seven years observations by the author 44.9°, but, as the year 1828 was very remarkably warm, that should, perhaps, be set aside, and the mean of the other six, 44.4°, taken as probably a fair statement of the mean annual temperature of Burlington. The mean annual temperature of Williamstown, deduced from the whole of Judge Paine's observations, is 40.3. Many perennial springs, and deep wells are found to continue nearly of the same temperature, both in summer and winter, and to be but very little affected The foll direction from the position of the mountains and valleys. That is very much the case in Vermont. Through the valley of the Connecticut and of lake Champlain the winds usually blow in a northerly or southerly direction, while easterly and westerly winds are comparatively of rare occurrence. In the valley of lake Champlain east winds are exceedingly rare, as will be seen by the following tables.* Along our smaller rivers, particularly the Winooski and the Lamoille, the prevailing winds are from the northwest. The following tables contain the result of observations made at Burlington, for eleven years, and at Rutland for one year. In the journal kept by the author at Burlington, and from which the tables on the following page were copied, three observations of wind and weather were entered each day, which synchronize with the observations of temperature for the same years in the preceding table, on the ninth page. table contains the results of five years observation at Burlington, by Dr. Saunders, and one year at Rutland, by Dr. Williams. No.Obs. N NE E SE S SW W NW fair. Jelody rain | snw fog|thunļau 1632 739 11 19 826 25 431 18 1025 676 289 127 19 45 27 1095 153 13 16 76 272 182 125 258 452 6431 89 41 37 15 21 *The author has in his possession a meteorological journal kept at Hydepark by Dr. Ariel Huntoon, for a period of 9 years, of which he had intended to insert an abstract; but, finding the three daily observations to have been made too near the warnest part of the day to furnish the true mean temperature of the 24 hours, and consequently unsuitable for comparison with the other tables, he concluded not to insert it. In order to render meteorological observations of service in determining the relative temperature of places, uniformity in the method of making them seems to be indispensable, and a want of this renders a great part of the journals which have been kept nearly useless. Although, at Burlington, we seldom have a wind from the east sufficiently strong to turn the vanes upon our churches, it is not uncommon, during the latter part of the night and early in the morning, when the weather is fair, to have a light breeze from the east, which is doubtless occasioned by the rolling down of the cold air from the mountains to supply the rarefaction over the lake. In other words, it is strictly a land breeze, similar to what occurs between the tropics. That these breezes are local and limited is evident from the fact, that, at the same time, the general motion of the air is in a different direction, as indicated by the motion of clouds in higher regions of the atmosphere. METEOROLOGICAL TABLE.-WINDS AND WEATHER AT BURLINGTON. 13 24 18 59 20 9 72 13 80 21 5 93 17 1 3 3 54, 2 5 79 11 3 21 13] 6 6 18 6 0 15 59 2011 0 2 11 90 1910 9 3 27 3 9 10 36 49 2 3 93 2785 6, 272, 9 9 Total 1098 364 16 621 500 2657 107 640 329 81 57 Total 1095482 24 525 478 655 20 731 295 52 17 Total 109-27842 36 70 4793772 84 697 307 68 26 1839 Obs. Nne E SE S SW w nw fair eldy r'n sno 1841 Obs. Nne ESE SSW WNW fair. cldy 'n sno 84 41 0 1 1 26 0 3 12 51 19 014 Feb 93 34 0 0 1 47 1 4 6 65 22 3 3 Mar 90 43 0 2 2 39,00 460 23 7 0 Apr | 93 34 1 1840 15 3 63 1911 90 271 27 0 2 3 3 210 8 22 May 93 29 1 0 0 Aug Sept Oct 93 38 1 0 2 5 1 93 13 15 4 651 13 93 21 6 3 5 38 389 0J ne 71 14 8 0July 84 6 3 0 Aug 90 45 0 0 0 41 0 2 2 66 20 4 0 Sept 8238 59 3 Apr May 93 23 2 0 3 49 014 2 73 17 30 Oct 74 90 33 1 1 2 2-610 90 20 4 3 7 40 93 34 3 1 3 43 26 1 30 45 9 6 40 37 610) Total 1095 443 23 625 486 11 46 55 660 341 65,29 Total 1095 361 381347 503 23 5743 7292-56117 Total 1095343 29 13 43410'3793[107.6782-8.77 52 October, 5.66 1.40 1.65 2.17 3.49 4.05 6.01 2.98 0.45 3.76 0.83 2.22 2.47 Mean quantity at B. for 7 years, 37.28 in's. 2.41 3.02 49.24 30.83 27.99 37.28 32.71 November, 4.10 December, Total, The depth of water, which falls during| Snow-For more than three months of a rain storm or thunder shower, is much the year the ground is usually covered less than people generally suppose. A with snow, but the depth of the snow, as fall of 4 or 5 inches during a severe thunder shower would not be thought at all extravagant by persons who have paid no attention to the accurate measurement of the quantity which fell. But during the seven years observations at Burlington contained in the above table, the depth of water which fell in one shower has never exceeded two inches, and the whole amount in 24 hours has, in only one instance, exceeded three inches, and that was on the 13th of May, 1833, when the fall of water was 3.54 inches. well as the time of its lying upon the ground, vary much in the different parts of the state. Upon the mountains and high lands, snows fall earlier and deeper, and lie later in the Spring than upon the low lands and valleys, and it is believed that they fell much deeper in all parts of the state, before the country was much cleared, than they have for many years past. As little snow falls at Burlington, probably, as at any place in the state. The following table exhibits the amount at this place for the last five winters: Fall of Snow at Burlington in the winters of 1837-'8. Inc. | 1838-'9. | Inc .| 1839-'40. | Inc. | 1840-'1. | Inc. | 1841-'2. |Inc. In 1838-'9, sleighs run from December 23, to January 8, but there was no good sleighing during the winter. In 1839-'40 sleighing was excellent from December 16, to February 5, fifty one days. In 1840'41, sleighs run from November 22, to November 29, and from December 7, to December 12, but the sleighing was not good. From December 27, the sleighing was good till the 8th of January, after which there was no good sleighing, although sleighs continued to run till the 20th of March. In 1841-'2, sleighing tolerable from December 18, to January 20, after that no good sleighing though sleighs run at several periods for a few days at a time. APPEARANCES OF BIRDS AND BLOSSOMS. or hail. The crops oftener suffer from an excess, than from a deficiency,of moisture, though seldom from either. Seasons-During the winter the ground is usually covered with snow, seldom exceeding one or two feet deep on the low lands, but often attaining the depth of three or four feet on the high lands and mountains. The weather is cold, and, in general, pretty uniformly so, with occasional snows and driving winds, till the beginning of March, when with much boisterous weather there begin to appear some slight indications of spring. About the 20th of that month the snows begin to disappear, and early in April the ground is usually bare. But the snows fall some weeks earlier and lie much later upon the mountains than upon the low lands. The The deepest snows, which fall in Vermont, are usually accompanied by a north or northeasterly wind, but there is some-weather and state of the ground is usually times a considerable fall of snow with a northwesterly, or southeasterly wind. A long continuance of south wind usually brings rain, both in winter and summer. Although snows are frequent in winter and rains in summer, storms are not of long continuance, seldom exceeding 24 hours. Storms from the east, which are common on the sea board, do not often reach the eastern part of this state, and on the west side of the Green Mountains they are wholly unknown, or rather, they come to that portion of the country from a northeastern, or southeastern direction. Thunder showers are common in the months of June, July and August, but seldom at other seasons. They usually come from the west, or southwest, but are not often violent or destructive, and very little damage is ever done by hurricanes such as to admit of sowing wheat, rye, oats, barley and peas, the latter part of April. Indian corn is commonly planted about the 20th of May, flowers about the 20th of July, and is ripe in October. Potatoes are planted any time between the 1st of May and the 10th of June. Frosts usually cease about the 10th of May and commence again the latter part of Sept., but in some years slight frosts have been observed, at particular places, in all the summer months, while in others, the tenderest vegetation has continued green and flourishing till November. The observations contained in the following table will afford the means of comparing the springs of a few years past. They are gathered from the Meteorological journal kept by the author at Burlington: Robins Song Barn Currants Red Plum Plums and] Crab Common seen. Year. Apple Apple Vegetation, upon the low lands and ture, and bring fruits and vegetables to along the margin of the lakes and large maturity which do not succeed well upon streams, is, in the spring, usually, a week the high lands. To the above remark, or ten days in advance of that upon the with regard to early frosts, there are sevhigh lands and mountains; but frosts usu-eral exceptions. On the low islands and ally occur, in the fall, earliest upon the shores of lake Champlain, vegetation is low lands, allowing to each nearly the frequently green and flourishing long after same time of active vegetation. The low the frosts have seared it in other parts of lands, however, enjoy a higher tempera- the state, and, along several of the rivers, |