The Portland daily press., 1889-01-02
THE WEATHER OF 1888.
What a Press Man Learns From
Uncle Sans Weatherwlse.
The Temperature OF Last December
Not Unprecedented,
Although the Year was Somewhat
Wet.

In many respects the weather for the year
ending Jan. 1st was phenomenal, at least
that is what many say concerning it. Very
general have been the complaints og account
of the unusual amount of rainfall,
esI scially dustng the fall months
when crops were ripe and in condition to be
harvested. September was the wettest
month of the year; more than eight inches
of water fell during the period between the
last day of August and the first day of 0cto-
Der, the exact amount being S.22 inches.
Then in October over seven inches of rain
fell and nearly seven inches and a half In
November. In many place crops were greatly
damaged by the wet weather. Beans that
had been staked out of doors moulded; pota-
toes rotted in the ground and grain sprouted
where it was left in the fields. A late spring,
an early fall, short cold Summer have
caused lamentation on every side, But such
adelghtful December! There never was
anything like it within my recollection" the
writer has heard many people of mature age
exclaim, and these same people would fain be
called weathefwise. 1t is true December
was, on the whole, pleasant month, but
within the memory of an eight year old
child there has been a warmer December,
have always lived in Portl and have expe-
rienced four December months that were
warmer than the one just past The cour-
teous and obliging officials at the United
States weather signal Office In this city, in
formed the writer, and proved to him by the
books, that Dec. 1877 when the mean temper
ature for the month was 339o; December,
1878, when the mean temperature fer the en-
tire month was 29.7o; December, 1881, with a
mean temperature of 80 and December, 1884
when the mean temperature for the month
was 307o were all warmer months than De-
cember. 1888, for which month the tempera
ture was 293o. But not once during the
month of December just passed has mercury
dropped to the zero point. 1t came very
near it or the 22nd, the coolest day of the
month. when it went down to 2.5o above ze-
TO. The highest temperature for last
month was on the 25th day when the ther-
mometer registered at its maximum height
exactly 570 Four and seventy-one humid
redths inches of water fell last month. The
slst day of December, 1887, was the coolest
showings1.80 below zero. 1t rose to 54.So
above on the 18th, the warmest day of the
month. The mean temperature for Decem-
Der, 1872 was 1889 and since that time Their
has not been another so cold December
month. The warmest December since 1872
was in 1881, when the mean temperature for
the month was 80. The mean temperature
for December 1887 was 279o. The five De-
cember months mentioned were the warm
est since 1872. Last year, September, was
the wettest month and July the dryest; in
1887 August was the wettest month
and September, when less than
an inch of water fell, the dryest
the month of October 1886 was the wettest of
the year and June the drysst; while in 1885
the greatest amount of precipitation was in
August and the least in September. Over
half foot more water has fallen this year
than during any of the last four years, while
the amount Of rain fall for the year Just
ended Is 1910 inches in excess Of the normal
rainfall for the past fifteen years. The pre-
cipitation in Portland during 1888 amounted
to almost five feet, an unusually wet year.
The following table, showing the amount
of rain fall in inches for each month in the
last four years. we know will be perused
with interest: