9056. WEATHER, Contemporary observations.—
As soon as I get into the house [in
New York] I have hired, * * * I will propose
to you to keep a diary of the weather here,
and wherever you shall be, exchanging observations.
from time to time. I should like to
compare the two climates by cotemporary observations.
My method is to make two observations
a day, the one as early as possible in the
morning, the other from 3 to 4 o'clock, because
I have found 4 o'clock the hottest and daylight
the coldest point of the 24 hours. I state them
in an ivory pocket book in the following form,
and copy them out once a week. * * * The
first column is the day of the month, and the
second the thermometer in the morning. The
fourth do. in the evening. The third the weather
in the morning. The fifth do. in the afternoon.
The sixth is for miscellanies, such as
the appearance of birds, leafing and flowering
of trees, frosts remarkably late or early, Aurora
Borealis, &c. * * * I distinguish weather
into fair or cloudy, according as the sky is more
or less than half covered with clouds.—
To T. M. Randolph.
Ford ed., v, 159.
(N.Y.,
1790)
