Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/476

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Mr. T. Butler King was furnished by Surgeon General Lawson, United States Army, with the following thermometrical observations:

At San Francisco, by Assistant Surgeon W. U. Parker, for six months, embracing the first quarter of 1847, and the first quarter of 1848. The monthly mean temperature was as follows: October, 57°; November, 49°; December, 50°; January, 49°; February, 50°; March, 51°.

At Monterey, in latitude 36° 38' north, and longitude 121° west, on the coast, about one degree and a half south of San Francisco, by Assistant Surgeon W. S. King, for seven months, from May to November inclusive. The monthly mean temperature was: May, 56°; June, 59°; July, 62°; August, 59°;• September, 58°; October, 60°; November, 56°.

At Los Angeles, latitude 34° 7', longitude west 118° 7', by Assistant Surgeon John S. Griffin, for ten months, from June, 184?-, to March, 1848, inclusive. The monthly mean temperature was: June, 73°; July, 74°; August, 75°; September, 75°; October, 69°; November, 59°; December 60°; January, 58°; February, 55°; March, 58°. This place is about forty miles from the coast.

At San Diego, latitude 32° 45', longitude west 117° 11', by Assistant Surgeon J. D. Summers, for the following three months of 1849, viz: July, monthly mean temperature, 71°; August, 75°; September, 70°.

At Suttersville, on the Sacramento river, latitude 38° 32' north, longitude west 121° 34', by Assistant Surgeon R. Murray, for the following months of 1849. July, monthly mean temperature 73°; August, 70°; September, 65°; October, 65°. These observations show a remarkably high temperature at San Francisco during the six months from October to March, inclusive; a variation of only eight degrees in the monthly mean, and a mean temperature for the six months of fifty-one degrees. At Monterey we find the mean monthly temperature from May to November, inclusive, varying only six degrees, and the mean temperature of the seven months to have been 58°. If we take the three summer months the mean heat was 60°. The mean of the three winter months was a little over 49°; showing a mean difference, on that part of the coast, of only 11° between summer and winter.

The mean temperature of San Francisco, for the three winter months, was precisely the same as at Monterey—a little over 49°.

As these cities are only about one degree and a half distant from each other, and both situated near the ocean, the temperature at both, in summer, may very reasonably be supposed to be as nearly similar as the thermometer shows it to be in winter. The mean temperature of July, August, and September, at San Diego, only 3° 53' south of Monterey, was 72°. The mean temperature of the same months at Monterey was a little over 59°; showing a mean difference of 13°.

At Los Angeles, 40 miles distant from the coast, mean temperature for the three summer months was 74°; of the three autumn months, 67°; and three winter months, 57°. At Suttersville, 130 miles from the sea, and 4° north of Los Angeles, mean temperature of August, September and October, was 67°. Mean temperature of same months at Monterey, 59°; making a difference of 8° between the coast and the interior, on nearly the same parallel of latitude.