New York City Weather Records for 1940 Day Jan. Source: United States Weather Bureau Dec. DAILY MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES AT NEW YORK CITY, 1940 Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Min. 27 30 16 13 38 22 40 29 47 36 63 50 69 57 73 57 74 74 59 34 15 38 15 38 34 50 39 66 47 63 74 60 34 30 15 43 31 41 32 54 39 58 50 30 15 47 31 42 31 28 13 26 18 64 74 71 60 50 53 46 50 25 65 82 68 59 52 61 52 38 19 63 80 63 70 51 59 47 34 12 66 71 58 82 63 63 49, 65 45 36 11 80 59 83 67 67 57 33 71 53 84 68 80 60 87 70 63 42 78 58 86 59 82 64 82 69 44 70 55 74 59 83 63 84 66 59 42 66 47 84 63 84 63 86 38 21 42 23 43 33 69 57 65 48 53 38 48 32 70 49 57 50 45 36 67 78 71 81 60 Means. 32 18 40 26 42 28 54 38 67 52 77 60 83 66 77 64 74 58] 61] 45 51 39 46 32 62 70 59 84 89 70 75 59 82 60 86 60 75 62 74 67 66 77 69 Monthly and Annual Mean N. Y. Temperatures (Degrees) Year Jan. Feb. 1901 1902. 1903.. 1904 1905 1906. 1907 1908 1909 1910. Source: United States Weather Bureau (The means are based on the averages from 1871 to date) 77777~~~~~~~~~~777 33333333 Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Annual 56.0 39.7 52.3 56.9 50.0 52.6 56.6 41.4 52.5 49.9 43 8 38500 53 421277∞24O258550 278727 42028102050 323223 9047 1912 1913 67135. 1923 544 65773 18282429T032 1925 1926 1929 1930. 1931 1932. 1933. 1935 1918-19 0 0 49.7 1936-37 T. 1.8 7.6 12.3 9.8 1.2 1.9 T. 4.5 3.6 1.9 0.6 0.7 6.2 T. 1.2 0.0 12.5 1.1 9.5 3.9 4.9 0.1 0 32.8 T. 0 11.9 5.2 13.9 T. 31.9 0.4 0.3 0.7 1.9 T. 0 1919-20. 0 T. 7.9 7.8 24.2 5.7 T. 0 45.6 1939-40 0.0 T. 3.8 3.9 9.8 3.3 1920 -21. 0 Ꭲ . 1.5 2.6 13.5 T. 0.1 0 17.7 1940-41 T. 1.6 3.8 7.8 5.3 16.5 0.0 0.0 35.0 In 1888, the "Blizzard" of March 12 deposited | storm covered more than a day and the total snow16.5 inches of snow in twenty-four hours, but the fall exceeded twenty inches. Velocity of Winds in the United States (Miles Per Hour) The following table shows the average hours of fog per year at various U. S. Lighthouses. 1,612 Matinicus Rock, Me The greatest amount of fog recorded at any station was at Seguin, Me., where 2,734 hours occurred in 1907. This is equivalent to about 31 per cent of the entire year of 8,760. **Calumet Harbor, near Chicago, Ill., is closed part of each winter and the average shown was made on an eight month per year basis. In the Astronomical Constants MEAN solar parallax, 8".80. Nutation constant, 9.21. Annual precession, Obliquity of the ecliptic, 23° 27′ 8′′.26-0.4684 (t-1900). Aberration constant, 20.47. 50.2564+0.000222 (t-1900). Annual diminution of obliquity, 0.4684. Moon's equatorial horizontal parallax, 57' 2" 70. Moon's mean distance from the earth (centre to centre), 238,857 miles. Sun's mean distance from the earth (astronomical unit), 92,897,416 miles. Velocity of light, 186,324 miles per second. Light travels unit of distance-viz. 92,897,416 miles in 498.5800 seconds. Length of the Year-Tropical (equinox to equinox 365.2421988 days. Sidereal or absolute revo The Sun. The Earth. lution, 365.2563604 days. Anomalistic (from perihelion to perihelion), 365.2596413 days. Length of Day-Sidereal, 23 hours 56 minutes 4.091 seconds (mean solar time). Mean solar, 24 hours 3 minutes 56.555 seconds (sidereal time). Length of the Month-Synodical (from new moon to new moon), 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes 2.8 seconds. Tropical, 27 days 7 hours 43 minutes 4.7 hours 43 minutes 11.5 seconds. Anomalistic (from seconds. Sidereal (absolute revolution), 27 days 7 perigee to perigee), 27 days 13 hours 18 minutes 33.1 seconds. Dimensions of the Earth-Equatorial radius, 3,963.34 miles; equatorial diameter, 7,926.677 miles: equatorial circumference, 24,902 miles. Polar radius. 3,949.99 miles; polar diameter, 7,899.998 miles: meridianal circumference, 24,860 miles. Eccentricity of the oblate spheroid, 0.0819981. Astronomical Signs and Symbols Mars. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus. Two heavenly bodies are in "conjunction" (o) when they have the same Right Ascension, or are on the same meridian, i. e., when one is due north or south of the other; if the bodies are near each other as seen from the earth, they will rise and set at the same time: they are in "opposition" (P) when in opposite quarters of the heavens, or when one rises as the other is setting. "Quadrature" () is half way between conjunction and opposition. By "greatest elongation" is meant the greatest apparent angular distance from the sun; the planet is then generally most favorably situated for observation. Mercury can be seen with the naked eye only at this time. When a planet is in its "ascending" (6) or "descending" () node it is passing through the plane of the earth's orbit. The term "Perihelion" means nearest to the sun, and "Aphelion" farthest from the sun. An "occultation" of a planet or star is an eclipse of it by some other body, usually the moon. The Zodiac THE sun's apparent yearly path among the stars is known as the ecliptic. The zone 16° wide, 8° on each side of the ecliptic, is known as the zodiac. Beginning at the point on the ecliptic which marks the position of the sun at the vernal equinox, and thence proceeding eastward, the zodiac is divided into twelve signs of 30° each, as shown herewith. These signs are named from the twelve constellations of the zodiac; with which the signs coincided 1. Aries. The Ram. 2.8 Taurus. Spring The Bull. Signs. 3. II Gemini. The Twins. 4. Cancer. Summer The Crab. The Lion. The Virgin. in the time of the astronomer Hipparchus, about Autumn Winter 8. M Scorpius. The Scorpion. 9. Sagittarius. The Archer. 10. Capricornus. The Goat. 11. Aquarius. The Water-Bearer 12. Pisces. The Fishes. Absolute Zero-Absolute Temperature Absolute zero-the point at which, theoretically, all molecular motion ceases-exists at 459.6 degrees below the Fahrenheit and 273.15 degrees below the Centigrade zero points. This is the beginning of what is known as dynamic meteorology as Absolute Temperature, as determined by observation of the contraction of gases when cooled, and from thermo-dynamical considerations. absolute zero was reached in 1921 by Kamerling Onnes in the physical laboratory of the University of Leyden," says C. G. Abbot, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington, under date of June 27, 1933. Dr. Wander Johannes de Haas, founder of Experimental Physics at the University of Leyden, announced in Feb., 1935, that he had reached a temperature of one five-thousandth of a degree "A temperature 0.8 degrees, Centigrade, from the (Kelvin) above Absolute Zero. Winds, Their Force and Official Designations The Beaufort wind scale is used by the Weather Bureau in its forecasts as follows: Cyclone is the name applied to a system of, winds circulating about a center of low barometric pressure at the earth's surface. The winds blow spirally inwards and the whole area travels at the rate of 20 miles or more an hour. The direction in equatorial latitudes is from east to west and in northern latitudes from west to east. In a cyclone the wind rotates around the center in a direction opposite the hands of a clock. A tornado is a storm along a path seldom more than a few hundred yards in width and of 20 to 30 miles in length. The tornado is accompanied by a funnel shaped cloud around which the winds revolve in a direction opposite to the hands of a clock. Tornadoes sometimes rise and fall, which accounts for whole sections unscathed along a path of demolished buildings and uprooted trees. Tornadoes are often accompanied by wind and hail and violent electric discharges. Geologic Eras Source: United States Geological Survey are particles of various sizes (conglomerate, sandstone. shale); of the remains or products of animals or plants (certain limestones and coal); of the product of chemical action or of evaporation (salt, gypsum, &c.); or of mixtures of these materials. A characteristic feature of sedimentary deposits is a layered structure known as bedding or stratification. The rocks composing the earth's crust grouped by geologists into three great classes igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The igneous rocks have solidified from molten state. Those that have solidified beneath the surface are known as intrusive rocks. Those that have flowed out over the surface are known as effusive rocks, extrusive rocks, or lavas. The term volcanic rock includes not only lavas but bombs, pumice, tuff, volcanic ash and other fragmental materials thrown out from volcanoes. Sedimentary rocks are formed by the deposition of sediment in water (aqueous), or by the wind, (eolian). The sediment may consist of rock fragments or Metamorphic rocks are derivatives of igneous or sedimentary rocks produced through mechanical or chemical activities in the earth's crust. stratified, and it is from their order of succession The unaltered sedimentary rocks are commonly and that of their contained fossils that the fundamental data of historical geology have been deduced. Characteristic Life. "Age of man." Animals and plants (or modern types. "Age of mammals." Possible first appearance of man. Rise and development of highest orders of plants. "Age of reptiles." Rise and culmination of huge land reptiles (dinosaurs). First appearance of birds and mammals; and palms and hardwood trees. Paleozoic. Pennsylvanian. Proterozoic. (Primordial Life.) Pre-Cambrian. 1,335,000,000 yrs. The time figures are from "The age of the earth." 1931, Bulletin 80 (p. 49) of the National Research Council. They represent estimates by Prof. Charles Schuchert, based primarily on the thickness of sediment that accumulated during each of the divisions of geologic time. These estimates are adjusted to the most reliable data obtained from the radioactive minerals. New revisions of these estimates by later data are being made each year. The atomic disintegration of uranium and thor The Races of Mankind Source: Various All mankind, according to Prof. A. C. Haddon, Cambridge University ethnologist, can be divided into three kinds-woolly hair, wavy hair, straight hair. Most Americans of European origin are wavy haired. According to Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, Division of Physical Anthropology, U. S. National Museum, Washington, three main human races are recognized today, which are: 1, the whites; 2, the yellowbrown; and 3, the blacks. Whites: The Mediterraneans, the Alpines and the Nordics. Yellow-Brown; The Mongoloids, the Malays and the American Indian. The last named race is now generally believed to have come originally from Northern Asia, and therefore of ancient Mongolian descent. Some of the natives of Central America and Western South America may have crossed over from the South Seas, it is conjectured. Blacks: The Negrito, Negrillos and Bushmen, the Melanesian Negroes and Australians and the Authorities The late Prof. Daniel G. Brinton, American ethnologist, divides mankind into four chief groups Caucasian, Mongolian, Malay, Ethiopian (negro) and American (Indian). In the Mongolian he included Finns, Laps, Magyars, Bulgars (part), Turks, Cossacks, Japanese, Koreans, Kalmuks, Chinese, and Indo-Chinese. In the Caucasians were included Aryans, and Semites. In the Semites were included Arabians, Hebrews and Syrians. Ears grow longer, the nose a little longer and distinctly broader, and the mouth widens, with the years, changing materially the appearance of the individual, according to Hrdlicka, who has taken measurements of thousands of men and women including white "old Americans," Pueblo and other Indians, Eskimos and Negroes. Among the white "old Americans," both the nasal breadth and length Increase with age, but the increase in breadth somewhat exceeds that in length. |