The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-05-14
The Weather of 1871.

fully maintained its reputation Tor In
oonstancy We have summer in winter
and winter in summer. and frequently
spring, summer, autumn and winter oil
in single day. Weather-wise people
assert that the seasons are becoming
gradually changed owing to the earth fall
ing behind in the race of the planets a.
round the zodiac. Perhaps so. At any
rate, November, usually bleak and dis
NAL, was in 1870 transformed into Sep.
tember, and astonished everybody by its
mildness. 1t was noted for sunny days
and even temperature of thirty-nine
previous Novembers only eight were gen.
orally warmer. In the Western States
it was the pleasantest in the memory OF
men. Since 1849 the month had not
been so mild, and to its last day not a
snow fake had fallen at Chicago.
December came, a real winter month.
but what weather 1t was superb. In
Eastern Massachusetts the mercury fell
to 30O only two nights down to the 18th
of the month. On the I'd, cotton stalks
we're in bloom in Tennessee, phenome-
non declared unknown before for half a
century. The same day farmers plowed
their lands in cold Minnesota. On to
the I'd week, Illinois and all the West
was balmy as May in atmospheric splen-
dor. No snow had fallen. At the 18th
day the thermometer ranged from 80
to 62o above in Massachusetts,, and from
Pennsylvania to the Canada line could
be seen lilacs and soft naples in bud or
bloom, with millions of blades of grass as
green as June. A Northampton editor
wrote "No man remembers an autumn
with as little freezing as this" But
while everybody from Chicago to Boston
was in admiration, not to say ecstacy ov-
er blooming flowers and glorious sue
cession of cloudlcss days, and wondering
whether it was "ast summer or next
spring. suddenly the Polar King ap-
heared on the scene, and with frosty fin
gers and snow-white beard, breathed over
the broad land. The 10th saw the con-
tnent locked tight in his grasp. 1t was
never done quicker Lake Champlain
froze over and remained so. Snow fell
everywhere. Augusta, Ca. had snow
storm on the 22d. Two days later Vir-
ginia had ice four inches thick and the
mercury Go below. On the ODD, in
Northern Illinois, the thermometer show
ed 16 o, 20 and 22o below zero. The
Mississippi was crossed on the ice at St.
Louis on the 25th, while in New Mexico
the mercury ran down to 2So below.
The oath was the coolest day in Wash
ington since 1867, and the 30th the cold
est day in New York known for ten years
The month that had come in like lamb
went out as lion; winter had inaugur-
ated his reign, and the cold snap was now
all the talk. Meanwhile at Naples it
showed heavily on the 4th, with cold
northeast winds, and the islands and
mountains were clad in white. But why
a bitter winter term in sunny Italy and
no such high temerature in New Eng
land in November and December for for
ty.six years previous, when it should nat
urally have been cece uirSa?
The icy monaroh marched on. A dry
summer and rainless autumn brought
a drouth that was felt from New Eng
land to Nebraska. The Merrimack had
not ran so low since 1907 as on New
Years day. Farming and mill interests
everywhere suffered, and the aqueous
famine gave birth to a mortal fear OF
fires. The 23d of January saw cold
down to 81 Q below in Clinton County,
New York, and snow on the Sierra Ne
vadas sixteen feet deep on level. To
90 back little; on the 14th; while
Portsmouth, N. H., was enjoying the
mercury at 500 above zero in the sun,
aud all New England was mild and warm,
Northern Illinois had a snow fall Of three
feet in depth, lasting two days. The
next day an Episcopal bishop ordered
prayers for rain, and the day following
it fell over variousyportions of the East.
ern and Middle States-a welcome thing
where springs never before failing for
forty years had utterly dried up. "A
remarkable winter" wrote the editor of
the New York World, and on that very
day (lsth) four days fog. lifted from
the great metropolis. Sioux City, Iowa,
had mild weather, rain, sleet, bitter cold,
furious wind, thunder and lightning in
horrible order water ran from the
streams on Mount Washington, and Pat
aluma valley. Cal, had freeze that
formed ice half an inch thick phe-
nomenon never before heard of in that
locality.
Still it was dry and suowless generally.
By the 23d. to clean the track of the
Boston and Albany Railroad, for a dis
tance of 200 miles it had cost 800, while
to the same date in 1866 it had cost
100000, so drifted was the snow. "Sueh
a winter as this for horse or steam rail-
way was never before known" said a
journalist. Down to this time the sea-
son on all the Atlantic mad been so mild
that the consumption of coal for weeks
previously had fallen off thirty per cent.
Then came an Artic blast. The 23d was
the coolest morning of the winter In
Canada, Maine and Northern New York
the instrument exhibited "a . and 81 Q
below zero. At New York the mercury
was depressed 26e g in few hours, and
reached 100 below. At Portsmouth,
where on the l4th it had risen to 500 A.,
it now fell to l2o below. Ice was more
obstructing in the harbors Of our great
cities than for many years; storm of
severity ragged from the
Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic, turn
ing even the Gulf Stream into "marine
hell" On Mount Washington the ther-
showed 45o below and the
wind 80 and 100 miles an hour. 1t was,
said Prof. Hitchcock, a combination of
wind and cold "unknown in meteorologi-
cal records, even within the Arctic cir
cle." at is doubtful" he adds, "if a
civilized being ever witnessed such ter
rife gale" And 30 winter came in
spasms and streaks. alt was condensed
winter" said one.