, 1875-10-09

nails have been erected upon the roof of the
main building and are in full view of a
greater part of the harbor. Reports from
the east, west and south are here trans
ferred and interchanged, and the routine
work is laborious and exacting. Full re-
ports from all stations are received.
Twenty bulletins of the morning and
eleven of the afternoon and seven of the
midnight reports are issued and distributed.
All the papers that publish them are sup
piled with bulletins. The office has a
printing press for maps. 1t issues daily
279, and has another press that strikes off
what is called the farmers bulletin"
about 700, and one copy is sent to each
postmaster, designed to reach him the
same day Of issue, and for the benefit of
all interested.
There is much complaint that the
Equitable Company refuse to give the
department more room over the Cedar
street entrance of the building. A night
signal light has been placed at d great
elevation, and is in view of all parts OF the
harbor. 1t may be seen at a distance of
twenty-five miles.
CycIonos extend over a circle from
100 to 500 miles IN diameter, and some
times a thousand miles. The approach
of a cyclone is generally announced by a
swell OF the ocean, resulting from the
action of the wind upon a n%eighbouring
sea, while the waves thus agitated advance
more rapidly than the storm The char
acter Of the weather at any time IS affect
ed by so many circumstances that it is OF
course impossible to predict what weather
may be expected at a given time and
place. To some ex,ent, however, such
predictions are possible. When tele-
graphic reports can be easily received
tron the Mississippi Valley it is possible
to predict the approach of a storm twenty
four hours ahead of its coming. Along
the Atlantic coast of the United States
rain occurs most frequently with the wind
from the northeast. 1t has been noted
at New Haven that storms begin with an
e%asterly wind and end with a westerly
one, so that the same storm is attended
by both winds bat, as the rain or snow
with the first wind generally continues
longest, the easterIy wind is recorded as
accompanying rain at a greater number
VI IHC lcSuldL uOulS Vi ODSVI FdLiOI'
Throughout most of the interior of the
United States the principal part of the
rain comes with a. westerly wind.
The instruments used by the Signal
Office are affected before the wind actual
ly begins to blow, or the rain to fall.
The length OF time which passes between
the first appearance OF a change Of weather
and its actual setting in is not the same.
1t is much greater when a southwest
wind is going to succeed a northeast than
when the opposite change is about to
take place. The wind usually shifts with
the sun, from left to right, in the northern
hemisphere. A change in this direction
is called veering Thus an east wind
shifts to west through southeast, south
and southwest, and a west wind shifts to
east through northwest, north and north
east. If the wind shifts the opposite way
viz from west to southwest, south and
southeast, the change is called backing, and
it seldom occurs unless when the weather is
unsettled. If the barometer be high (above
30.5) and remain steady for some days
it is because there is, SO to speak, a surplus
of air at the place. The wind will
be light and the weather probably
dry. A gale can only set in when
the air flows away and it will not at first
be severe at the place. The wind will
no li,ht oloo hut the weather will nroha.