St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-06
WHERE IS WINTER?
An Open Winter No Longer
Regarded as a Desirable
Thing.
The Business Reaction Invar-
iably Damages All Indi-
4 rectly.
Yesterdays Pleasant Weather
a Backset to Business 4
Hopes. i
The Theories on Whicha Cold
~ Winter Is Now PPedi-
, Gated. "a

There was a feeling year ago that a
mild winter. then plainly anticipated,
would be glorious thing for Mime
sofa. 1t was to be loudly proclaimed to
the world that a Minnesota winter was
so mild that an ice palace was imp0ssi-
bic and that Florida was Hyperborean
waste compared to the balmy winters
also thought that the poor would be
greatly benefited by winter so warm
that high-priced fuel would not be nee
eSsary. Well, the open winter came
and went, and now public sentiment
has undergone change on the subject
of open winters. They are clearly fall
ures. They stagnate business and per-
vert the natural channels of trade. The
absence of the normally cold weather
prevented the sale of winter goods, and
the spring found merchants with an
unsOld stock of goods OIL their shelves.
They did not want another ooen winter.
1t was also experienced that as re-
suit of the StagnatiOn of trade. money
became scarce, and certain customary
improvements in the spring were aban-
d0ned. Work was slack and wages
dropped. 1t then became apparent
that even the poorer classes are not
gamers, i'll the long run, by an open
winter.
The universal sentiment now is that
the natural and nominal, bright, crisp
and zero weather is the proper winter
for Minnesota. Business demands it,
trade expects it, and the carnival must
"a 4, H., s.rl, nj
spring-lIke temperature that obtained
yesterday, though pleasant to expert
ence, was distasteful to contemplate.
Merchants with a full stock of
winter goods are anXiously study
ing the meteorological conditions
and wondering when the cold
weather will set in. Fer then there is
hope. Bright as were the skies of yes
terday, and balmy as was the wind
which carried off the melting snow, the
outlook is for cold weather. There are
certain indications, usually regarded as
infallible, which lead to the belief that
a cold January is inevitable.
81 think we will have an average, old
fashioned winter" said Observer Ly=,
ons yesterday, Though the present in,
dcatiODs are for clear and not cold
weather. Let us look over the records
ana Try ana draw SOiut COllcluSlOiiS.
The records were produced ana exam
ined. 1t has been the invariable case,-
with one exception in the past twenty
years, that November. in which the
minimum temperature was below Zerop
was followed by cold winter. and vice;
versa. In fact, it was absolutely invar-
liable in the first case, while the
one exception was in 1882, when.
very warm November was
followed by bitter cold January. The
November just passed had a minimum
of 4. predicatiHg a cold January, and.
it is remarkable that nearly every cold
winter opened with December that
wasmild in the beginning. The De
cembers of 1856 and 1887, both of
which were succeeded by nipping'
Jannaries, were cold throughout.
but the December of 1885 was
half and half. and followed by black
January. The winterOf 1887-8S was one
OF the coolest on record, but at that
time the weather opened out with a
November showing 30 deg. and De-
cember with minimum of az deg.
There is time yet for the cold" said
Sergeant Lyons, land l would not be
surprised if the ice palace weather were
to make its appearance very soOn."