The climate of Peking is salubrious, and like that of the middle and northern states of the union. The water is frozen from December until March. Violent storms occur in the spring; the heat in summer is great, and the autumnal months of September, October and November are the most pleasant part of the year. But my principal object is to delineate the climate of Canton and Macao, which lie between the latitudes of twenty-two and twenty-three north; the statement is copied from the Canton Register. I have added thereto several tables of meteorological averages. Canton is regarded by the Chinese, as one of the most unhealthy portions of their country, yet it is a more healthy climate than that of most other places, situated in the same degree of latitude.
The weather during the month of January, is dry, cold, and bracing, differing but little, if at all, from the two preceding months, November and December. The wind blows generally from the north, occasionally inclining to northeast or northwest. Any change to the south, causes considerable variation in the temperature of the atmosphere.
During the month of February the thermometer continues low; but the dry, bracing cold of the three preceding months is changed for a damp and chilly atmosphere: the number of fine days is much diminished, and cloudy or foggy weather of more frequent recurrence in February and March than in any other months. At Macao, the fog is often so dense as to render objects invisible at a few yards’ distance.
The weather in the month of March, as stated above, is damp and foggy; but the temperature of the atmosphere becomes considerably warmer. To preserve articles from damp, it is requisite to continue the use of fires and closed rooms, which the heat of the atmosphere renders very unpleasant. From this month the thermometer rises until July and August, when the heat is at its maximum.
The thick fogs which begin to disappear towards the close of March, are, in April, seldom if ever seen. The atmosphere, however, continues damp, and rainy days are not unfrequent; the thermometer at the same time, gradually rises, and the nearer approach of the sun, renders its heat more perceptible. In this, and the following summer months, southeasterly winds generally prevail.
In the month of May, summer is fully set in, and the heat, particularly in Canton, is often oppressive; the more so from the closeness of the atmosphere, the winds being usually light and variable. This is the most rainy month in the year, averaging fifteen days and a half of heavy rain; cloudy days, without rain, are, however, of unfrequent occurrence; and one half of the month averages fine sunny weather.
June is also a very wet month, yet, taking the aggregate, the number of rainy days is less than in the other summer months. The thermometer in this month rises several degrees higher than in May, and falls but little at night. It is this latter circumstance chiefly, which occasions the exhaustion often felt in this country from the heat of summer.
The month of July is the hottest in the year, the thermometer reaching eighty-eight in the shade, at noon, both at Canton and Macao. This month is also subject to frequent heavy showers of rain, and, like the month of August, to storms of thunder and lightning. The winds blow almost unintermittingly from southeast or south.