2. The Meteorology of the Month of May

Extract

Excepting the months of January and July—the months of extreme temperatures for the larger portions of the globe—there is no month the meteorology of which is so peculiar, and a careful investigation of which is so likely to lead to striking and important results, as the month of May. The peculiarity of the meteorology of the month of May is, that it is the month of the year during which the most rapid rise of temperature takes place over the greater parter part of the northern hemisphere, and the most rapid fall over the greater part of the southern hemisphere; and since that rapid rise and equally rapid fall takes place at very different rates, according to the peculiar distribution of land and water in each region, the inquiry is calculated to bring out in strong relief some of the more prominent causes which influence climate, and some of the more striking results of those causes.