“The climate of Galveston, in the Gulf of Mexico, is warm, mild and humid. Occasionally, there are winters when the temperature does not fall below 32°. During the past twenty years there have been thirteen years in which the temperature has not fallen below 24°, and but two years below 20°. The seasonal mean temperatures are: Winter, 55°; Spring, 69°; Summer, 83°; Autumn, 71°. The annual mean is 70°. Monthly mean for January, 53°; for July, 84°. The extreme temperature record is 98°, and the minimum 20°. The mean rainfall is 51 inches, distributed as follows: Winter, 11·5 inches; Spring, 10·2 inches; Summer, 13·3 inches; Autumn, 16·6 inches. The heaviest rain takes place in September, and the least in February and July. The mean annual relative humidity is 77 per cent.; for Winter, 81 per cent. Wind movement averages 11·1 miles, the prevailing winds being from S. and S.E. The highest winds occur in winter and blow from the N., but the average ‘northers’ of upper Texas are but little felt in the Gulf of Mexico.”
Proceeding westward along the Mexican Gulf we find the climate grows steadily moister, New Orleans, which is placed very nearly in the middle of its northern coast, presenting the following climatic factors.
| New Orleans. Lat. 29° 58′ N. Long.90° 11′ W. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Monthly Mean Temperature | Monthly Absolute Maxima | Monthly Absolute Minima | Relative Humidity | Mean Monthly Rainfall | Number of Rainy Days | ||||
| F. | C. | F. | C. | F. | C. | Ins. | Mm. | |||
| January | 58·8 | 14·8 | 82 | 27·8 | 15 | -9·4 | 79 | 5·17 | 130·9 | 11 |
| February | 58·1 | 14·4 | 82 | 27·8 | 25 | -3·9 | 81 | 4·56 | 115·7 | 10 |
| March | 62·0 | 16·7 | 84 | 28·9 | 30 | -1·1 | 76 | 5·35 | 135·9 | 9 |
| April | 69·0 | 20·6 | 88 | 31·1 | 38 | 3·3 | 76 | 5·28 | 133·5 | 8 |
| May | 74·6 | 23·7 | 92 | 33·3 | 53 | 11·7 | 74 | 4·76 | 120·7 | 9 |
| June | 80·3 | 26·8 | 97 | 36·1 | 58 | 14·4 | 78 | 6·49 | 165·0 | 14 |
| July | 82·2 | 27·9 | 99 | 37·2 | 67 | 19·4 | 78 | 6·50 | 165·1 | 16 |
| August | 81·5 | 27·5 | 96 | 35·6 | 63 | 17·2 | 79 | 6·02 | 153·6 | 14 |
| September | 78·3 | 25·7 | 95 | 35·0 | 56 | 13·3 | 77 | 4·70 | 119·4 | 11 |
| October | 69·8 | 21·0 | 90 | 32·2 | 40 | 4·4 | 74 | 3·25 | 82·5 | 7 |
| November | 60·7 | 15·9 | 85 | 29·4 | 30 | -1·1 | 79 | 4·30 | 109·2 | 9 |
| December | 55·5 | 13·1 | 81 | 27·2 | 20 | -6·7 | 80 | 4·38 | 111·7 | 4 |
| Year | 68·8 | 20·4 | 99 | 37·2 | 15 | -9·4 | 78 | 60·52 | 153·7 | 128 |
The amenity of the climate of Florida is proverbial, as the maxima rarely run so high, and the annual and daily range is much smaller than is the case further west, owing to the effect of the Gulf Stream, which sweeps out past its projecting shore. On this account there is an almost entire absence of frost, and the State has become celebrated for its cultivation of oranges, a fruit which is at once nipped by any approach to freezing point. Dr. Solly describes it as follows:—
“The climate is marine in character, and is very equable and temperate for its latitude. The mean annual temperature runs from 69° at Sanford to 79·8° at Jacksonville; for the winter, the variation is from 54·6° at Pensacola to 66·5°, at Jupiter. Frost, snow and ice are very rare. Annual rainfall varies from 53·19 inches at Pensacola to 57·16 at Cedar Keys; of this, one half usually occurs in the summer. The mean relative humidity varies from 76 per cent. at Pensacola to 80 at Cedar Keys. In the winter months it is from 76 to 87 per cent. The total number of rainy days ranged from 103·8 at Cedar Keys to 124·1 at Pensacola, and the number of cloudy days in the same places was 66.8 and 84·5. Dr. Hall, while admitting the prevalence of malaria, states that there are many places quite free from it, and that it is generally diminishing.”
Mexico.
—Extending, as it does, completely across the southern portion of the North American Continent, the climate of Mexico presents the same sequence from the drought of the eastern to the moderately ample rainfall of the western coasts; and here too, there are places in the central highlands that are much drier than any to be found on either coast. These points are illustrated in the table on following page.
The corresponding data as to temperature are given below.
| Table of Temperatures of Mexican Stations. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Mean Annual Temperature | Coldest Month | Warmest Month | |||||
| Name | Mean Temperature | Name | Mean Temperature | |||||
| F. | C. | F. | C. | F. | C. | |||
| Mazatlan | 74·5 | 23·6 | January | 66·1 | 19 | July | 81·6 | 27·6 |
| Culiacan | 76·5 | 24·8 | January | 65·0 | 18·3 | July | 84·5 | 29·2 |
| Leon | 65·5 | 18·5 | December | 56·4 | 13·5 | May | 73·6 | 23·2 |
| Mexico | 59·5 | 15·4 | December | 53·6 | 12·0 | May | 64·5 | 18·1 |
| Puebla | 60·0 | 15·6 | January | 53·1 | 11·8 | May | 64·5 | 18·2 |
| Matamoros | 73·5 | 23·2 | January | 62·6 | 17·0 | July | 84·2 | 29·0 |
| Montery | 70·4 | 21·3 | January | 54·6 | 12·6 | June | 82·0 | 27·8 |
| Vera Cruz | 76·6 | 24·8 | December | 70·5 | 21·4 | August | 81·3 | 27·4 |
| Cordoba | 69·0 | 20·6 | January | 64·4 | 18·0 | May | 73·5 | 23·1 |