The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-01-29
A Mild Winter.
tPhila. weekly Press !

| That repository OF meteOrOlOg1 cal
| information, "The oldest inhabitant," I"
has not been consulted about the very
remarkable weather which has pre-
vailed during the present winter, SO
| that we cannot affirm that it is un-
precedented but the records kept by
the observer at the United States Sig
nal Office in this city show that there
has been no such a season since the
founding of the Weather Bureau in
1870. Twenty years ago (1S59-G0) the
first two months of winter were eX-
ceedingly mild, but we have not the
figures at hand to compare the mean
temperature with the corresponding
period of 1879 so. Since 1870 an ac-
curate record of the mean tcmpera-
ture of each day of the year has been
kept, and any dispute about the mild
ness or severity of the season, as COM
pared with any pre- 9ious one within
the last ten years can be easily settled
by referring to the official figures.
The month of January, 1875, was
the coolest of which the Signal Office
has any record. The mean tenlpera
ture for the whole month was 2G. /
nearly six degrees below the freezing
point. Last winter was considered a
very severe one, and the ferry boats
ON the Delaware were more or less inn
peded by the ice during the entire
month of January, but the mean tenn
perature for the month was 3.S degrees
higher than for corresponding month
of 1875. When the temperature goes
down to 25, ice forms rapidly, and if
it Keeps down for three or four days
there is Il hard freeze, the OBJECT of
which is seen for many days. This
was the case during the first week in
January last year, when the mercury
went down at night to three or four
degrees below zero. rhe thick ice
which was formed them remained for
II long time, and mounds of frozen
mud and snow remained in the streets
during the greater part of the winter
monuments of the cold spell in which
they had their origin.
During last December OS79) the
mean temperature was 3S.8, being
nearly seven degrees above the freez-
ing point. The mercury went down to
ii on the 9th, but the average for the
month is unusually high, and on the
4th and the llth the summer tempera-
ture of 81 degrees was reached. The
mean temperature of the correspond
ing month of 1878 was 34.5, being 4.3
degrees lower than in 1879. If it had
not been for the little cold spell just
before the holidays, which cut down
the general average, December could
scarcely have been rated Il winter
month, if the classification depended
on the temperature. The record for
January is still more extraordinary.
Up TO date the mean temperature OF
the month has been 40.6, being SO
degrees above the freezing poin..
During five days Of the present week
the mean temperature has been AS.
This record has no parallel in the
tables kept by the United States Sig
nal Office, but, rs we have already
stated they only go back to 1870.
There has been no day wien the
mean temperature reached the frepZ-
ing point, and ON last Tuesday it was
50 ).
Comparing these figures with the
records Of the same month for eight
previous years, we find that the mean
temperature for the present was 4 8
degrees higher than during January,
1871, and l4.5 degrees higher than
during January, 1873. The record for
January since 1871 is as follows: 1871,
81; 1872, 20. (; 1873, 2S.9: 1874, aG.7;
1875, 26.1; 1876, 36.7; 1877, 28.4; 1873,
1879, 29.9; 1850, up to the I'D
inst, 40 6. In many respects this eX-
ccedingly mild weather has been
highly advantageous to the country.
The principal manufacturing indus
tries are in active operation, and have
not been impeded by ice or frost
Outdoor work has gone on with al
most as little interruption as is eX
perienced in the summer months
while the poor have escaped the
privations and sufferings which a
severe winter always brings.