The Billings herald. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1882-1885, 1883-03-15
OUR CLIMATE.

To the residents Of the upper
Yellowstone valley the accounts o
the recent stormy and inclemen
weather throughout Dakota, Mime
sofa and the East generally. seen
almost incredible. So balmy and
delightful has been our weather fol
nearly month past that it is diff
cult to realize the fact that during
the same time regions east and ever
south of us have been visited by
the most terrific snow storms o1
the season, accompanied by very
low temperature, and all the other
incidents Of severe winter weather
Our trains and mails from the east
have been delayed to the extent in
one instance of thirty-six hours.
and the proclaimed reason is ''snow
blockades in Minnesota and Dako-
ta." While a frigid temperature
and severe storms have been pre-
vailing in less favored regions, what
has been the condition Of things
here? Since about the 18th OF
February, up to the present writing,
no snow has fallen in Billings nor
any rain; the whole period may be
described as succession of calm,
clear, sunshiny days. In the same
time the thermometer has never
shown 4 registration below the
freezing point of water, except dur
ing the hours Of darkness when a
slightly lower temperature was
sometimes experienced. In the
daytime the mercury has frequently
stood above 60 degrees in the shade
and We believe that the average
noon temperature during the past
three weeks would reach over so
degrees above zero. As may be
supposed the snow long ago disap-
pearcd from the valley and can
now only be found in small and
widely-separated patches on the
higher ranges, where it was depos-
tied in shady hooks and hollows by
the early winter winds, The streets
of Billings have been dry and dusty
for many days, and already the
springing grass and budding trees
are responding to the genial inhu-
cnces Of the atmosphere and sun
shine. In the bottom west of Bill
lings, and in other valleys of Mon
tana, farming operations were be-
gun last week or earlier, and there
is and will be nothing to hinder
their progress. Nor is this cxccp-
tional. Those who have been long
resident in this country tell us that
the past winter, though compara-
lively mild, has been remarkable
only from its severity, and that the
present Floridian weather is no sur
prise to them.
Our Eastern readers will regard
these statements as wholesale, cx-
aggerations, or as wilful falsehoods,
but they are facts nevertheless,
and may be verified by signal-oflicc
reports, or any other practicable
method. A traveller who, with q
sigh of relief, alighted from one of
the trains that had been for several
hours snow-bound in Eastern Da-
kota, remarked: "lf ! were to tell
my Minnesota friends what delight
full weather you arc enjoying here
in Billings, they would not believe
me-" And so it is. To the people
of the outside world, the valley Of
the Upper Yellowstone has been
until recently an unknown country,
and they may be pardoned if they
have yet to learn that we are blessed
with the mildest and most health
full climate in the Northern zone.
We say this in no boastful spirit,
but merely to supportour assertion
that if anything can be said to the
detriment or disadvantage of the
Yellowstone valley it will not have
reference to it's climate.