The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-01-09

s-s1J
fssyERE WEATHER THE E'stSEM1-TRoPrCAL y
= sTATE--TTs PROBABLE CONSEQUENCES.
from the Sacramento Dee, DECEMBER 2slh,l
Last night was the coolest which has vel
been experimentation the mountains, and in
this vicinity it was also very cold. At True.
kee the thermometer registered only lode.
~rees above zero; at the Summit. II; al
Cisco, 10; Mt Blue Canyon. I6. At Nord
the Thermometer fell to Is degrees above
zero. Ice formed in this vicinity, and to
the north Of the railroad shops q, pond was
frozen over with ice two AID q half INCHES
| ip thickness. +, -. -: ISs&,
| A dispatch from Susanville, Lassen coun-
| ty. December 2Gth, says: The tiicrm0mete ter
for nearly three weel:s has stood at to zoe
above zero. 1t marked 40 this morning.
There is no snow on the ground, and it is q
bright, sunshiny day. ~stsss +.
| from the San Francisco Chronicle.l
1 The weather record oi this State since the
coming Of the -ArgonautS shows nothing
like the continued cold snap OF the last fort
night. When the mercury falls ut Sacre-
mento to 15o and ITO below freezing point,
/ as it did on the nights of the 2Gth and 9th
instant, it is almost rs startling a phe-
nomenon as 4 settled rain in the month OF
August would be. Our dIest winds are
always the coldest, because they are
accompanied by northerIy winds, while the
rain-winds all blow from the south, gen.
| orally at temperature ranging from $50 to
GO Fahrenheit. The ordinary winter north
winds come with perfectly clear SKY ana
produce range CT temperature 10 the great
| inland valleys from about freezing polEt
| (32o> in the night to $50 in the afternoon.
This year the range both at Sacramento and
Stockton has been much lower, both day
night; and. though the cold would not in.
commode an unacrlimated person from Hi.
nois, Massachusetts, or Pennsylvania, it is
keenly felt by all old residents, who require
| as heavy wolien clothing and as hot fires at
10o 10 15o below freezing point as the in
habtants OF the northM cstern States do at
10o below zero. .-a.a4.t@
All old Californians will remember the
fine open winter Of 1S5G-'51-the driest eX-
perienced since that time, 1S63-'64 not ex-
ceDted, though the latter has the distinction
OF "the famine year." because agriculture
had then become q considerable and reliable
pursuit, on which account the drought was
cahmity. In 1S5C-'51! 1t was not ca
lamity, because we then imported nearly all
that was consumed, even to potatoes and
onions. The winter Of lS50-'51 was what
we should now Gala cold one; but we all
SOI dlOIS HbuOuL fSiSoae-3 oho hHoSI Va
| us with only the common woollen shirt then
worn by everybody. ALI through December
and January there were heavy frosts at Sac
inmento, aud thick ice formed all along the
| foothills; built was not ,thickeron dead
water eitherat Sacramento or Stockton than
about 4 or ! an inch. This year they tell of
| ice 81 inches thick at Sacramento, formed in
| two nights. In 1850 there were, as in this
year, slight rains in September and Octo-
| Der, but none in November and December.
The dry, cold, north wind blew all through
all these last two months. January and
February gave, together, less than an inch
OF rain at Stockton. March gave nearly =
inches, and April II; May, ! OF an inch.
That was by great odds our driest season
| The total rainfall was but 4 $40 inches in
Stockton. and about 6 inches in San Fran
cisco. The famine year" of 1S63-'64 gave
nearly s inches at Stockton, and over II
inches here. We know now from the eX'
pericnce OF 1S76-'77. when the total rain.
fail at Stockton was 7 inches. that with the
summer fallow ut least hall the crop ol
wheat could have been produced either in
1S5C-'51 or in 1861. 1t was accomplished
in 1877 with OF an inch less rain than fel
in the !. famine year." Wherefore there is
no good ground as yet to anticipate q tota
failure of the wheat harvest next summer,
though these cold and desiccating north
winds will, il they continue fortnight
longer, destroy all that has so far been
planted in the great valleys or the interior
= n,