IowaJones/History/1879 HistoryЧSnow

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The 1879 History of Jones County Iowa was transcribed by Janet A. Brandt.

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Time of opening, closing, and number of days closed of the Maquoketa River					Earliest and latest frost of the season, and days without frost
YEARS	Closed	Open	YEARS	Days Cl'sed	YEARS	Date of Last Frost	Date of First Frost	No. of Days Without Frost
1850					1850	June 11	Sept. 29	109
1851					1851	May 7	Sept. 16	131
1852					1852	June 5	Sept. 16	102
1853					1853	April 20	Sept. 10	142
1854	Dec. 5	Mar. 12	1855	97	1854	May 22	Sept. 20	120
1855	Dec .25	April 1	1856	98	1855	June 13	Sept. 27	105
1856	Dec. 13	Feb. 12	1857	61	1856	May 30	Sept. 20	112
1857	Nov. 27	Mar. 13	1858	107	1857	May 21	Sept. 23	124
1858	Dec. 10	Mar. 8	1859	87	1858	May 21	Aug. 28	99
1859	Dec. 8	Mar. 3	1860	85	1859	June 4	Sept. 2	89
1860	Dec. 12	Mar. 10	1861	87	1860	May 15	Sept. 12	119
1861	Dec. 3	April 1	1862	118	1861	May 16	Sept. 28	134
1862	Dec. 5	Mar. 13	1863	97	1862	June 19	Sept 25	97
1863	Dec. 6	Mar. 15	1864	99	1863	June 8	Aug. 25	77
1864	Dec. 8	Mar. 19	1865	100	1864	June 13	Sept. 19	97
1865	Dec. 12	Mar. 3	1866	80	1865	May 11	Sept. 30	141
1866	Dec. 13	Feb. 13	1867	61	1866	May 17	Sept. 21	126
1867	Dec. 1	Mar. 3	1868	92	1867	May 26	Sept. 10	106
1868	Dec. 11	Feb. 15	1869	65	1868	May 21	Sept. 13	114
1869	Dec. 31	Feb. 25	1870	56	1869	June 6	Sept. 26	111
1870	Dec. 30	Feb. 10	1871	41	1870	April 29	Oct. 13	166
1871	Dec. 6	Feb. 29	1872	84	1871	May 10	Sept. 21	133
1872	Dec. 10	Mar. 2	1873	81	1872	May 2	Sept. 27	147
1873	Dec. 24	Feb. 25	1874	62	1873	May 13	Sept. 8	117
1874	Dec. 14	Feb. 18	1875	65	1874	May 18	Sept. 30	134
1875	Dec.17	Feb. 13	1876	*25	1875	May 17	Sept. 11	116
1876	Dec. 2	Feb. 1	1877	61	1876	June 21	Sept. 27	97
**1877	Jan. 6	Jan. 13	1878	7	1877	June 10	Sept. 18	99
1878	Dec. 20	Mar. 7	1879	76	1878	June 10	Sept. 11	92
1879	Dec.				1879	May 6	Sept. 9	125
Closed December 17; open again December 20; closed January 10; open again January 17; closed again January 29; open again February 13. *The river did not freeze over the fall of 1877

MONTHLY AND ANNUAL QUANTITIES OF SNOW IN INCHES
Years	Date of First Amount of Snow	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Date of Last Fall of Snow	Total Fall of Snow	Years
1854	12	ЕЕ	4.00	0.90	8.00	4.50	2.00	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	26	19.40	1855
1855	22	3.00	4.50	0.10	2.20	0.65	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	21	13.05	1856
1856	4	ЕЕ	7.50	13.00	14.00	15.25	6.25	1.00	ЕЕ	8	57.50	1857
1857	8	ЕЕ	1.00	0.16	ЕЕ	10.50	3.50	2.00	ЕЕ	13	17.16	1858
1858	9	ЕЕ	10.00	12.00	4.00	13.00	6.50	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	20	45.50	1859
1859	10	ЕЕ	1.00	6.00	5.00	2.00	0.16	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	25	14.16	1860
1860	2	ЕЕ	4.00	18.75	18.25	13.50	1.75	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	26	56.25	1861
1861	29	0.16	2.00	4.50	28.50	5.75	15.75	3.25	ЕЕ	8	59.91	1862
1862	2	ЕЕ	4.50	ЕЕ	3.25	6.50	3.50	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	24	21.75	1863
1863	22	2.50	6.00	20.00	0.75	10.00	7.50	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	12	46.75	1864
1864	20	1.00	3.00	12.25	2.90	10.97	6.77	5.70	ЕЕ	21	42.59	1865
1865	28	4.00	2.50	4.62	9.00	14.52	4.98	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	28	39.62	1866
1866	27	0.05	0.30	8.50	13.40	12.50	16.25	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	26	51.00	1867
1867	11	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	6.81	3.45	6.88	0.75	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	1	17.89	1868
1868	17	ЕЕ	3.61	9.50	19.14	15.58	5.40	1.00	ЕЕ	1	54.23	1869
1869	8	ЕЕ	16.09	10.65	13.62	0.25	15.11	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	16	55.72	1870
1870	11	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	0.75	5.00	11.50	0.87	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	12	18.12	1871
1871	31	1.05	4.00	13.25	0.95	0.87	20.33	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	31	40.45	1872
1872	14	ЕЕ	6.62	8.27	15.09	5.15	5.55	11.25	ЕЕ	9	51.93	1873
1873	29	1.40	6.35	6.75	10.25	11.55	0.25	3.50	ЕЕ	27	40.05	1874
1874	19	ЕЕ	0.54	8.00	14.96	15.80	6.50	3.00	0.25	1	49.05	1875
1875	26	0.16	0.25	6.30	2.00	0.32	19.50	1.00	ЕЕ	2	29.53	1876
1876	6	ЕЕ	7.25	8.08	17.25	0.50	26.60	2.00	ЕЕ	29	41.68	1877
1877	1	ЕЕ	11.62	0.25	2.10	2.35	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	24	16.32	1878
1878	28	0.50	ЕЕ	9.55	4.40	6.50	6.25	ЕЕ	ЕЕ	21	29.20	1879

The science of Meteorology, as used for observation, and the description and explanation of the phenomena peculiar to the atmosphere of our earth generally, dates back twenty-five or thirty years. The Smithsonian Institution at Washington commenced the collection of data, from volunteer observers, as early as 1849. During the past five years the War Department of the United States Government have taken the matter in hand, and are making rapid progress toward foretelling the rise, progress and course of our American storms.

The following table shows the monthly maximum, minimum and mean temperature, range and temperature of well-water, for the year 1877, to which is added the annual for the past three years:

1877	Max	Min	Mean	Range	Temp of well-water
January	45	-20 *	13	33	43
February	60	13	32.8	47	48
March	59	-2	27.1	61	47
April	74	20	43.4	54	48
May	86	32	59.1	54	48
June	85	41	66	44	48
July	93	55	73.6	38	50
August	89	48	70.1	41	49
September	87	42	65.1	45	49
October	82	24	49.7	58	49
November	61	5	32.8	56	48
December	64	17	39.5	47	48
Annual, 1877	93	-20	47.6	113	47.9
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

The temperature, as a whole, has been a trifle above normal. It reached as high as 93 degrees above on the 7th of July, against 95 in 1876, and fell as low as 20 degrees below zero on January 23, against 18 degrees below last year, making a mean temperature for the year of 47.6 degrees, .3 degrees above the normal. The Maquoketa River did not freeze over opposite town during the fall for the first time in twenty-five years. The river opened February 1st, and has remained open for the last eleven months of the year. The last hoar-frost occurred June 10, and the first in the fall on September 18, making 90 days without frost, against 97 days in 1876.

The following table shows the mean direction of the wind. The figures show the number of times each month the wind prevailed in each of the eight cardinal points for the year 1878:

1878	N	NE	E	SE	S	SW	W	NW	Calm
January	3	3	1	4	4	5	2	9	0
February	5	7	3	4	4	3	0	2	0
March	2	3	0	7	5	5	2	7	0
April	5	3	4	5	2	2	1	8	0
May	0	4	2	4	2	4	3	12	0
June	4	5	4	2	2	3	2	7	1
July	4	9	5	3	0	6	2	0	2
August	0	4	0	3	1	4	4	10	5
September	1	2	0	7	5	6	3	6	0
October	2	0	0	5	8	3	3	10	0
November	4	1	0	6	5	4	1	9	0
December	2	1	1	6	3	2	2	14	0
Annual	32	42	20	56	41	47	25	94	8

The following table shows the monthly value of rain and melted snow reduced to water in inches for the year 1877, and the annual value for the past two years:

1877	Rain in Inches	No. Rainy Days	Snow in Inches	No. Days of Snow
January	2.10	1	17.25	5
February	0.32	1	0.50	1
March	6.54	2	26.60	8
April	3.40	7	2.00	1
May	3.70	7	ЕЕ	ЕЕ
June	8.74	11	ЕЕ	ЕЕ
July	2.23	6	ЕЕ	ЕЕ
August	6.75	5	ЕЕ	ЕЕ
September	1.47	3	ЕЕ	ЕЕ
October	6.21	13	ЕЕ	ЕЕ
November	3.84	5	11.62	6
December	2.67	6	0.25	1
1877	47.97	67	58.22	22
1876	52.30	72	38.15	23
1875	29.57	61	44.72	32
For twenty years	35.16	67	38.64	28

The total amount of rain-fall and melted snow reduced to water, measures 47.97 inches, against 52.30 inches, and was 12.81 inches above the normal-the most precipitation received in any one year for the past twenty-five years, except the years 1858, 1862 and 1876.

The first snow was landed on All Saints' Day, November 1, five days earlier than last year, making 185 days between the last and first snow-storms of the season. The snow for the year amounted to 58.22 inches, the largest share of it was landed in January and March. All the sleighing for the year was enjoyed in those months. It rained on sixty-seven days against seventy-two days in 1876, and snowed on twenty-two days, against twenty-three days in 1876.

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© Copyright 1997-2013, The Art Department, © Copyright 2014-2020, Richard Harrison. Last updated on Friday, 16-Apr-2021 16:54:39 MST

© Copyright 1997-2013, The Art Department, © Copyright 2014-2020, Richard Harrison.
Last updated on Friday, 16-Apr-2021 16:54:39 MST