The New York herald., 1874-09-26
THE SUMMER RAINFALL.

Scientific Report OF the supply of Rain
During the Months of July and Au-
rust-Erom the Great Plains to the
Atlantic Seaboard.
WASHINGTON, Sept. "a, 1874.
lam indebted to the Chief Signal Offlcer lor the
following important data on the summer rain-
fall: -
A careful comparison of the Signal Service re-
ports. both regular and volunteer, shows the fol-
lowing state or the rainfall during the monlns OF
July and August over the entire districts extend
ing eastward from the Rocky Mountains TO the
Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The deficiencies OF rain.
tall which exceed one nCn and hall are con-
sdered as partial droughts.
BEGINNING the survey OF this whole region at the
Northwest 1t is found that in
MINNESOTA
t,ore WAS for Juy a large deficiency Of rainfall,
amountinp to g. 10 inches; but in August this do
Iciency was partly made up by unusual prec'Pi-
,ation Summing up, however, the total ralnfau
for bOtn July and August, there still remains q
doncency OF l.6o inches in the sixty-two days OF
observatlOn--that is to say IN this last named
period there were 160 inches less OF rain than
usually falls This fact proves that there mas
been n partial drought in the State. Turning next
to the
LOWER MISSOURI VALLEY,
August there was less rain than usual. The total
deficiency OF precpita ton, as compared with the
average OF many years, was 0.S5 OF an inch about
equally distributed throughout the growing sea-
son. Special droughs were reported In July from
Missouri aud Kansas, and the summer may DO
considered therefore, unusually dry In this whole
section drained into the great river. Still the
total deficiency OF moistdre IS only about one.haI
that reported from Minnesota Tor the same period.
The total area OF this section under Observation
nav be put down as about that OF the state on
Missouri, of which, probably. not one-half had
deficiency of rain exceeding one inch ana hall
| Coming next TO
THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY,
| the returns snow deficiency Of moisture in July
| and an excess in August. But the excess does
| not balance the deficiency by 1.55 inches, fndi-
! eating serious drought throughout this district,
whose superficial area may be approximately
estimated at about tnat OF the State OF Illinois, or
about 90, 900 square miles, In
THE OHIO VALLEY AND TENNESSEE
the condition of things has been brighter the RAIN
fall being O.O2 OF incn excess of the average
for many years. 1t is, however, to be n0ted that
this result is due to the heavy rains In tennessee.
which bring up the figures for the whole district
with which 1t is classified in the Signal once re-
| ports TAKEN separately the OHIO Valley did not
receive its usual amount OF rain either IN July or
August. Special droughts prevailed In KENTUCKY
during July and more generally over the OHIO Val-
lev during the latter part OF August The total
area of partial drought in this valley may be estt
mated at 20, 900 square miles.
! THE UPPER LAKE REGION
also shows an ABNORMAL scarcity OF rain, both In
July and August, to which there is no Offset. The
total deficiency Is LIS inches for the sixty-two
DAYS considered; and, while this seems to have
fallen uniformly on the whole region, instead Of
being confined TO spots, the area in which the pre-
| cIpatlon has been and a half inches below the
average may be computed as approximate
4O 900 square miles, The total condensation over
THE LOWER LAKE REGION
| is marked by the same scarcity. Though there
was slight excess o rain IN July, the August dry
ness more than couhterbalanced 1t and utdown tho
total 09O OF inch below the mean OF many years.
Droughts occurred in THIS section during the last
part OF August and the total area in which the
preclpitauon has been one and half inches below
the average, probably does not lall lar short ol
10000 square miles.
Casting the eye southward the figures show for
| THE WESTERN GULF STATES
o large excess Of ran lot July, amounting to iour
inches, but Tor August a deficiency OF over three
inches. 1t pleasing to notIce that the total iOr
the sixtytwo days is In avor OF the district, show
however, nave prevailed In Texas
THE EASTERN GULF STATES
the rainfall has been normal, IL we combine the
excess OF July with the deficiency OF August.
TIE SOUTH ATLANTIC STATES
nave suffered round deficiency OF LOO inch IN
the sxty-two days. During August ths was
dOubied the August rainfall being 2.3O incHes
short Oh the average ior this month. The drought
, districts may therefore, be put down as covering
an area OF country approximating 5000 square
miles,
For the
, MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES
the da'a furnished show that the total rainfall for
, July and August iell 1.25 iuches below the normal
or average Tor many years. This deficiency Oc-
CURED almost entirely IN August, the July returns
showing normal precipitation. The chief areas
OF the August DROUGHT cne Middle States are In
Southern Maryland and Northern Virginia, In the
vauia ana IN tina: part oi New York lying west ol
the Hudson RIVER. There was large deficiency
I OF rain IN the st. Lawrence Valley and Northern
New York The total area which has nad de-
ncent rainfall IN the Middle States may be estt-
mated at 40, 900 square miles.
, The exceptional returns are most marked
NEW ENGLAND,
where there has been IN tie Slxty-tW0 days con-
sidered, all abnormal excess OF rain, amounting In
all TO So inches. Inis has lallen mostly near the
coast.
Approximately, therefore, there has been IN all
sections east OF the great plains and running
from the Gulf to tue aRes, an area OF 3S0.0OQ
square miles over which the rainfall has been de-
fclent as compared with the average OF many
years; and this deficiency has been about one and
and August. But in all these estimates OF super
1cial area no regard been had to land Ia cul-
tvation, but only to the entire geographical area
nr haI