Читать книгу The Ipswich Sparrow and Its Summer Home - Jonathan Jr. Dwight - Страница 6

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The climate of Sable Island is colder in summer and warmer in winter than its situation (East End Light, Lat. 43° 58′ 10″ N., Long. 59º 46′ 20″ W.; West End Light, Lat. 43º 56′ 40″ N., Long. 60° 6′ W.)^[9] would indicate. It lies in the cold Labrador current sweeping down from Baffin’s Bay. Hence the cool summers; for Mr. Boutilier tells me there are only about twenty days in each year when the mercury goes above 70° F. and the highest recorded temperature in the last ten years has been 78.5° F. Proximity to the Gulf Stream tempers the winters, and only twice in the same period has the temperature been as low as 6° F., rarely reaching the single figure. Snow does not lie long, but wastes rapidly in the salt air. This same proximity to the Gulf Stream explains, too, the dense and frequent fogs that prevail at all seasons of the year. The warm, moisture-laden air of the Gulf Stream is carried by southerly breezes till it meets the cold atmosphere of the Labrador current, when a condensation of the aqueous vapor takes place, resulting in the fogs that often roll in, particularly in summer, as far as the Nova Scotia coast. I was informed that June and July were the months most to be dreaded, and that only a few years ago fog had prevailed at this time for nine consecutive weeks. I was more favored, and although there was fog of varying density almost every day of my stay, and occasional rain, the sun would sometimes struggle through for a few moments. Once or twice it shone brightly in the crisp air, a stiff westerly breeze driving the fog-banks out to sea, and dashing little waves upon the lagoon’s shores until they were lined with snowy drifts of foam. It was a pretty sight, and large balls of the foam, diminishing in size as they sped, were chased along by the wind, leaving behind them queer white trails on the moist beach.

The extremes of temperature encountered by me were 60° F. on June 9 and 40° F. on June 13, and I can assure my readers that, with a temperature seldom over 50° F., winter clothing and an overcoat did not come amiss.

The violence of the wind and the fury of winter storms can only be estimated by the changed aspect of hill and valley after a long-continued gale. I encountered one when the wind attained a velocity of over fifty miles an hour, and I can now realize what it must have been on one occasion when for twenty-four hours the anemometer registered a rate of not less than sixty-four miles an hour, with bursts that reached eighty-seven.