The climate of the United States and its endemic influences. Based chiefly on the records of the Medical Department and Adjutant General's Office, United States Army / By Samuel Forry.
- Samuel Forry
- Date:
- 1842
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The climate of the United States and its endemic influences. Based chiefly on the records of the Medical Department and Adjutant General's Office, United States Army / By Samuel Forry. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![and curing hay are unnecessary, forcattle graze on fresh-growing grass through the winter. * * * Winters on the Columbia River are remarkably mild, there being no snow, and the river being obstructed by ice but a few days during the first part of January. Grass re- mained in sufficient perfection to afford good feed; and garden ve~ getables, such as turnips and carrots, were not destroyed, but notrees blossomed till March, except willow, alders,” &c. In regard to the course of winds and other states of the weather, abstracts for the same five years, embraced in the Tables [B] and [C], will be now presented, the proportion of each being calculated for the average ofa month. See Tables [D] and [E] page 51. As our military posts have never been supplied with an instrument, (anemometer,) required for ascertaining correctly the direction of winds, it is not to be expected that these observations are character- ized by much precision. As winds are currents of air occasioned by the disturbance of the equilibrium of the atmosphere by the unequal distribution of heat, it follows that each variety of climate must have a system of winds correspondently modified. The data furnished in these tables do not, however, admit of systematic classification. Along the course of the great Lakes, a strong breeze blows during most of the summer, setting inabout 10 A. M., and continuing till 4 P.M. During spring and autumn, the wind generally comes-from the same quarter. In winter, winds from the north, varying from east to west, mostly prevail. It has been observed that the number of days in a year during which the winds blow from a certain point of the compass, ata given place, preserves a pretty constant ratio—a result arising from the fact that the force and direction of winds de- pend on causes peculiar to the locality, suchas the declination of the sun, the configuration of the coast, the position of neighboring con- tinents, the vicinity of great seas, and, in a word, all those physical causes which modify temperature. This fact is generally illustrated throughout the United States. By way of example, the results of five posts, selected atrandom, in different regions of our vast territory, are annexed. See Table [¥] page 52. At Fort Brady, it is seen that the highest ratios of winds each year are the S. HE. andthe W., and the lowest ratios, the N. and N.E. At West Point, the highest average each year is given by the S. W. winds and the lowest by those from the E. At Washington city, the prevailing winds each year are the N. W., andthe opposite ratios are the N.and W. At Cantonment Clinch, the S. W. winds give the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33288379_0056.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
