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METEOROLOGICAL
We extract the following review of the meteorology of Monticello, Iowa, for the year 1854-79, prepared by M. M. Moulton, of the Volunteer Signal Service of the U. S. A. Latitude, 42.13; longitude, 91.15; elevation (above the sea), 800 feet; magnetic variations, 8.5 degrees east. |
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ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE
The first air thermometer was invented by Sanctorio, of Padua, in 1590. Improvements and modifications subsequently followed. Tubes terminating in bulbs, and charged with alcohol, were constructed by an Italian in 1655. Romer afterward employed mercury in lieu of alcohol. In 1714, Fahrenheit, a native of Dantzic, introduced a graduated scale, fixing the zero point at the greatest cold known to have occurred in Ireland; and since the freezing point of water is 32 degrees and the boiling point 212 degrees (at a mean atmospheric pressure), he graduated the thermometric scale between these two important points into 180 equal parts. The popular companions to Fahrenheit's thermometer are the Centigrade, employed in France, and the Reaumur, employed in Germany and Russia. The annexed thermometric record comprises a comprehensive view of the principal thermal changes, to which is affixed an equal comparative record:
OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DAILY AT 7 O'CLOCK A.M.,
AND 2 AND 9 O'CLOCK, P.M. |
1876 |
Max. |
Min. |
Mean |
Range |
Temp. of Well Water |
| January | 55 | *-8 | 25.7 | 63 | 42 |
| February | 53 | -5 | 25.9 | 58 | 45 |
| March | 53 | 7 | 28.4 | 46 | 46 |
| April | 73 | 21 | 48.8 | 52 | 46 |
| May | 90 | 37 | 60.9 | 53 | 50 |
| June | 90 | 52 | 69.4 | 38 | 50 |
| July | 95 | 62 | 76.4 | 33 | 51 |
| August | 93 | 55 | 71.3 | 38 | 52 |
| September | 79 | 40 | 61.3 | 39 | 54 |
| October | 72 | 28 | 45.9 | 44 | 49 |
| November | 64 | 3 | 31.7 | 61 | 50 |
| December | 40 | -18 | 11.8 | 58 | 48 |
| Annual, 1876 | 95 | -18 | 46.4 | 113 | 48.5 |
| Annual, 1875 | 92 | -8 | 43.4 | 100 | 46.4 |
| Annual, 1874 | 96 | -21 | 46.8 | 117 | 45.2 |
| For twenty years | 102 | -36 | 45.7 | 138 | 47.3 |
| *A dash (-) signifies below zero. |
While the past year has had several warm days and even months, the mean temperature, as a whole, has fallen below the normal. The temperature reached as high as 95 degrees above on July 8-three degrees warmer than last year-and fell as low as 18 degrees below zero on December 9-eleven degrees below last year-making a mean temperature for the year of 46.4 degrees, and 2.4 degrees below the normal. The Maquoketa River was open opposite town on February 13, after being frozen over for the space of twenty-five days, and was closed again December 2, after being open for 292 days. The last hoar-frost occurred June 21, and the first for the season was September 27, making 97 days without frost against 116 last year.
FIRST FROSTS AND NUMBER OF
DAYS WITHOUT FROST |
Year |
First Frost |
No. of Days Without Frost |
| 1870 | October 13 | 166 days |
| 1871 | September 21 | 133 do |
| 1872 | September 27 | 147 do |
| 1873 | September 8 | 117 do |
| 1874 | September 30 | 134 do |
| 1875 | September 11 | 116 do |
| 1876 | September 27 | 97 do |
The following table shows the amount of rain and melted snow in inches, and the number of rainy days during the year; also the amount of snow in inches, and the number of days on which snow fell in sufficient quantity to be measured. The first snow of the year was landed November 6, against October 26 in 1875, or eleven days later than last year:
1876 |
Inches
Rain |
Rainy Days |
Inches Snow |
Days Snow |
| January | 2.29 | 3 | 2.00 | 1 |
| February | 1.88 | 2 | .32 | 2 |
| March | 4.09 | 3 | 19.50 | 6 |
| April | 2.83 | 6 | 1.00 | 1 |
| May | 4.75 | 9 | ------ | --- |
| June | 7.00 | 13 | ------ | --- |
| July | 10.45 | 8 | ------ | --- |
| August | 5.74 | 11 | ------ | --- |
| September | 8.62 | 11 | ------ | --- |
| October | 1.24 | 4 | ------ | --- |
| November | 2.64 | 2 | 7.25 | 6 |
| December | .77 | --- | 8.08 | 7 |
| 1876 | 52.30 | 72 | 38.15 | 23 |
| 1875 | 29.57 | 61 | 44.72 | 32 |
| For 20 years | 35.16 | 67 | 38.64 | 28 |
The total amount of rain for the year amounts to 52.30 inches, against 29.57 inches last year, and 17.14 inches above the normal; it being the most precipitation received for any one year since 1852, when we were treated to 59.49 inches. The snow amounts to 38.15, a trifle below the normal, and the largest share of it came last March. It rained on 72 days, mostly in the summer months, against 61 days last year, and snowed on 23 days, against 32 days last year. With that number of snowy days, we have not had enough at any one time during the year for good sleighing.
| FIRST SNOW |
1870 |
December 11 |
.75 inches |
|
1873 |
October 29 |
1.40 inches |
| 1871 | October 31 | 1.05 do | | 1874 | November 19 | .54 do |
| 1872 | November 14 | 6.62 do | | 1875 | October 26 | .16 do |
The following table exhibits the mean direction of the wind. The figures denote the number of times, each month, the wind prevailed in each of the eight cardinal points, together with the annual results compared with the three preceding years:
| DAYS DIFFERENT WINDS PREVAILING FROM |
1876 |
N |
NE |
E |
SE |
S |
SW |
W |
NW |
Calm |
| January | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 2 |
| February | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 0 |
| March | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| April | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 11 | 2 |
| May | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| June | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| July | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| August | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| September | 2 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| October | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 2 |
| November | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 13 | 0 |
| December | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| Annual 1876 | 5 | 21 | 1 | 66 | 5 | 114 | 9 | 122 | 23 |
| Annual 1875 | 40 | 15 | 23 | 82 | 32 | 38 | 44 | 85 | 6 |
| Annual 1874 | 37 | 12 | 30 | 93 | 43 | 36 | 43 | 67 | 4 |
| Annual 1873 | 43 | 16 | 36 | 68 | 41 | 33 | 37 | 78 | 13 |
The prevailing winds are from the Northwest, coming from that direction for 122 days out of the 366 days of the year, just one-third of the whole year. In point of strength and character, they are notorious, surpassing the south and southwest winds in force and velocity, frequently attaining a velocity of 25 to 30 miles an hour. It thundered and lightened on 55 days, was foggy on 28 days, and hazy on 12 days during the year.
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