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

vulsions of the elements. 1t was the dry
est,hotest summer ever known in Arizona
since its settlement by the whites, ant
drouths of unexampled severity prevailed
in both hemispheres, in some cases, as ex
ampled in China, Bengal, Hungary, Peru
etc, followed by torrents of rain that
covered the parched regions as with a
second deluge.
Two words describe the fall season, viz
Cold and dry. The Sth and 4th September
brought killing frosts in Maine and New
Hampshire on the Goth the cold settled
to IL . above zero on Mount Washing.
ton, and the next day winter seemed tc
begin in East Prussia, where a severe
snow storm ragged, to the astonishment Of
all good Germans. This was the hottest
month Of the season in California; the
Sacramento river ran foot lower thar
ever known before. In the Atlantic States
the weather was unusually cool, and dur.
ing the last week frosts, SHOWS and ice
lay over the Grampian Hills of Scotland
Lake Cochituate was never so low, the
valley of Champlain had but one third
its usual rainfall, while in all the valley
ofthe Upper Mississippi and its tributaries
the drouth exceeded anything ever known
for quarter Of century. Italy COM
planned of drouths. Water! water wa:
the cry of the burning West. Their
when rain came it would pour down like
a cataract This phenomnon of sudden
rain-bursts was witnessed in an extraord
mary degree in Yorkshire, England, on
the 9th, where rain equal TO a ton and
half of water to each square rod oi
surface fell in single thunder storm ol
but short duration. We put on record
another similar instance at Rouses Point
N. Y, June 27,lS70, during an electrical
manifestation - of such extraordinary
quantity and violence as was never pre-.
viously seen in the present century, rain
fell to depth of six inches in forty-6ve
minutes, which is equal to sixteen feet in
twenty hours
While all the month of October con.
tinued hot and dry in California. and the
Western World surged with heated air
and devouring flames, New Mexico and
Wyoming had on the 10th four feet OF
snow. The same date the first SHOWS fell
in Canada. But raspberries were pluck
ed at Arlington, Mass, on the 18th, and
violets bloc med on the hillsides at Wood
ford, VT, on the Goth, while the month
In England was warmer than September
Nevertheless, winter was early on hand
and vengeful with rigor.
And thus we have experienced sum-
mer weather in winter and winter
weather in summer, with the four seasons
turned topsy-turvy and end for end, mix
ed up in inextricable confusion, and oft
times the distinctive features of each and
all crowded into day. As usual, some
Of the astronomers said the cold spring
ard summer were owing to the spots on
the sun. Very likely old Sol is to blame
A very convenient pack-horse is this
mysterious luminary on which to load the
fidgity, ireakish, incxplicabc weather oi
planet so unexplainablc to the world ot
science.
1t cannot be denied that 1871 had
many striking, alarming and unaccount.
able features in its meteorological aspect
There were storms Of rain, storms of sleet
storms OF snow, stolms of hail, and some.
times all these in an hour. And there
were storms Of meat and storms of stones
slroccos and storms Of electrical fire
Tornadoes took on strange shapes and
colors and odors. Meteors flashed and
burned with blue, purple and red flames
the latter color being strikingly prom.
inent in the auroras, which at times have
famed out on the midnight sky with the
appearance of an immense confagration
The scientist witnessed a new thing
mighty explosion in the sun Sept. I, a
phenomenon of wide and unbounded in.
terest. In our records, as CLEANED from
two first class American dallies and an
excellent British weekly, we have count
ed up four terrific typhoons, eight furious
cyclones, forty horrible hurricanes, thirty
four terrible tornadoes, with eleven great
and destructive volcanic eruptions and
earthquakes, all occurring during the
memorable year of our Lord 1871.