MONTHLY WEbrTHER REVIEW

Following a study of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic interactions associated with the recent Northeast drought, smaller-scale manifestations of this drought are studied with the help of records from New York Central Park Observatory. The long-period records of this Observatory (since 1869) are then studied statistically in relation to dry periods. Among the most interesting facts brought out is a long-period downward trend in precipitation beginning sometime in the early 1930's or perhaps late 1920's. This appears to be related to general circulation aberrations of the samc kind found in the earlier study of thc recent (5-yr.) drought. However, an attempt to demonstrate n long-period air-sea interaction similar to the earlier-described short-period interaction failed-perhaps because of inadequacies in sea-surface temperature data. Finally, nationwide precipitation patterns accompanying dryness in the Northeast are determined from 59 yr. of precipitation data. These patterns throw considerable light on the scale and nature of the precipitation-inhibiting processes as R function of season. 1. LOCAL MANIFESTATIONS OF THE DROUGHT AT NEW YORK CITY In a recent paper [5] it was shown that the drought of 1962-65 in the Northeast affected a large area and that it was associated with aberrations in large-scale prevailing wind patterns (long waves) in the westerlies. The areal extent of the drought has been carefully documented by Palmer [7], Barksdale et al. [l], and others. It might be valuable, in addition, to examine in this paper the records of an individual station located in the core of the drought area, particularly the records of a station which has a good exposure and length of record. New York Central Park Observatory satisfies these criteria; its excellent observations were begun in 1869 [Ill. I n the following treatment, monthly means of various meteorological parameters for the period 1961-66* are plotted in such a way that it is easy to compare values between months of the same or of different years as well as to compare values with averages for the period 1931-60 (hereafter called the normals). Figure 1 shows such a plot for the relative humidity observed at 1 :00 p.m. local time, perhaps the most repre1 Most of this research was carried on while the author was on leave as Visiting Scientist 2 Throughout August 1966. Substantial rains began in September. at the Department of Meteorology and Oceanography of New York University. A 1966 X 1965