Gazetteer of the State of Maine With Numerous Illustrations, by Geo. J. Varney

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 1882. Public domain image from

44    GAZETTEER    OF    MAINE

snowfall is about 15.02 inches ; so that about 44 per cent, of the total
downfall during the four and a half months of actual winter in Maine,
is snow. The total annual mean depth of snow observed at Dover,
N. H., Montreal, Can., Worcester, Mass., Amherst, Mass., Hartford,
Conn., Lambertville, N. J., Cincinnati, O., and Beloit, Wis., is 44-63
inches, which is a little more than one-half of the fall in Maine.

There is a considerable difference in the precipitation of moisture
between the northern and southern slopes,—the mean annual fall on
the former being 36-71 inches and on the latter, 48-56 inches. There
is, however, no lack of moisture for the sustenance of vegetation on the
northern slope; the soil being less open than on the southern. By a
record of eleven years kept at the Agricultural College in Orono,
near the centre of the State, we have the following averages.

The hours of observation for temperature and barometer are the
same as those formerly adopted by the Smithsonian Institution, viz.: 7
A. M., and 2 P. M., and 9 P. M.

The warmest day of the year 1879 was July 16th, when the mean
temperature was 77°.8, and the coldest day was December 21st, when
the mean temperature was 11°.7 below zero. The highest temperature
(88^.0) recorded during the year was on the 2d of August, and the
lewest temperature (26°.0 below zero) on the 27th of December. The
range of temperature between the two extremes is 114°.0, or 1°.2 less
than the average range between the extremes for the last eleven years.
The warmest day within the period covered by the tables was August
7th, 1876, when the mean temperature was 85°.3, and the coldest day,
January 8th, 1878, when the mean temperature was 17°.2 below zero.
The highest temperature (96°.7) occurred on August 6th, 1876, and the
lowest temperature (35°.6 below zero) on January 8th, 1878. A com-
parison, as regards temperature, of the several months of 1879 with
the mean temperature of corresponding months for eleven years is
given below:

Mean temperature from Mean temperature

Months. 1869 to 1879, inclusive. for 1879.

January......15°.51    12°.85    2°.66    colder.

February......18°.75    15°.26    3°.49    “

March.......27°.18    26°.89    0°.29    «

April.......39°.87    37°.85    2°.02    “

May.......52°.30    55°.78    3°.48    warmer.

June.......62°.20    59°.66    2°.54    colder.

July........67°.75    67°.05    0°.70    «

August.......65°.71    64°.53    1°,18    «

September......57°.20    56°.37    0°.83    “

October......46°.29    50°.32    4°.03    warmer.

November.....32°.43    33°.41    0°.02    colder.

December.....19°. 61    19°.48    0°.13    “

The following observations at Portland will afford data of comparison
in the climate of the southern with that of the central region of the
State. The observations extend from April, 1879 to April, 1880: