The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-03-02

SOMETHING ABOUT YEARS WITHOUT
WINTER OR SUMNER.
Warm Winters as ucraids Of Disaster
Cyclones Which Have Come In Their
Wakc-Snow and lee I'm Junc-Ilecor,s
OF Old Times.

On the second page Of Vennori
weather Bulletin" for January, 1882
was found the following: During De
cember, 1877, western newspaper re.
marked that not since 1881 has any De
cembcr season been known so mild
Lawn grasses are growing finely and
dandelions are in bloom; navigation j..
perfectly OPEN Commenting ON this
MIR. Ncnnor says: "Now, again. in 1881.
we have 20 record a very similar state Of
affairs for the same month Of the year
The st. Paul Pioneer Press of Dec. %
/ 1871, contained am editorial Of which the
following is an extract:
"Ihis remarkable weather knocks the
/ Old Settler association on their beam
ends. Here it is the 22d Of
December, with the mercury dancing on
It's silver heels 10 the music Of 80 dcrs.
above in the shade a Ten boats
of tine So. Paul Boat club. each occupied
with scullers or crews of oarsmon. sport
ing upon the placid bosom of the ances-
/ tor of mcaudcring strcams-all this and
more, too, is the result of the remark
able weather which now prevails IN Min
nosota. This is q fact worthy
of being placed on record for the benefit
/ Of all coming investigation of climatic
facts and theories in Minnesota"
The winter of 1S77-7S is not the only
one of exceptional mildnoss from which
the writer has authority To draw.
WARM CHRISTMAS.
The winter OF 1sSl-S2 was as phenom
email as far as unreasonable weather wac
+ concerned. as That of ls,5-1s. ON Christ.
mas day. 1881. the mercury stood at from
/ - 10 % dogs above zero throughout
the Mississippi valley, merging into sum.
mor heat from the mouth of the Ohio
southwark The day was clear and
bright, with wind south TO southwest.
I'm Ohio. Indiana. illinois, Missouri. Iowa
and Nebraska the farmers plowcd every
month during the winter The lilac buds
swelled into full leaf in February. 1852.
in nearly all the states named
On Jan. &C. 1882, the best tested thcr-
momcters stood at AZ dogs. above i'm the
morning at 81 degs. in the afternoon.
and did not fall below so dogs. for over
thirty-six hours. February showed TWEEN
ty-one days upon which the mercury rose
above 40 in the shade, and upon sixteen
of these the temperature was above 90
degs. some time during the day. On the
9th, 9th, 10Th, 18th, 18th and 18th it
marked 60 or above, and upon one occa-
sion, the 18th, stood between 20 and so
dogs for five hours.
The Thermometer responsible for this
seeming Inconsistency failed to reach the
high water mark Of Feb. u again until
after the end of the first week in June.
with q single exception, May 4, when it
marked 50. / mention this fact for the
benefit of the reader who may think the
instrument with which the readings
were taken one of inferior grade, and.
in consequence, very susceptible to fuc-
tuations of heat and cold
Southern people who get nervous when
they hear yellow fever mentioned in
connection with the warm winter OF
1S17-7S can gain some consolation 10y
watching the change which comes over
the face of the western and northern
man when he is informed that the spring
like character of January and February.
1882, Indirectly brought about the many
cyclones and prairie twisters of the sum-
mer following. Many scientists, living
and dead. the late Mr. Nennor among
the number, believe and believed that
warm winters are very likely to be fol-
lowed by a summer Of destructive wind
storms. As far as 1882 is concerned, tine
coincidence Is remarkable.
A SUMMER or CYCLONES.
The twisters began to exhibit that year
down in Louisiana early.in March, about
two or three weeks after the remarkable
hot February day, lcveling several towns
and killing off the negro population at
an alarming rate. Next, in April, a
prairie terror sprang mp, all unlocked
for, i'm Rice county, Kan. Travelled in q
northeast direction, killing everybody
in its track. On the same day three sep
arate cyclones crossed the state of Michi-
gan, killing i'm the aggregate seventeen
persons and a great deal of stock, besides
destroying am immense amount of prop
erty. From that time forward cyclones
Matched out like tadpolos i'm June. They
were mere there and every place for @
couple of months. doing great damage
TO property. but sparing human life, eX-
cept now and then an isolated family.
Ilr..Ifrf a
Grinnell, Ia, in which lifty-siX persons
lost thoir lives. On the same nightcy-
clones of minor size visited Kansas, Mis-
souri,, Nebraska, Illinois and Minnesota,
killing from three tOtwelye in each state.
Note thenames Of thestates just mention
ed, and also the list given above, in which
it was said that blowing continued
throughout the winter. After the Grim
nell horror about a fortnight Of compar-
alive quiet reigned Then came the Tex
arkana calamity. in which nineteen hui
man lives were blotted ont Of existence.
This summary does not take into con-
sideration the cyclone at Brownsville,
Mo. and at Fayette, Pa, both of which
occurred in April Of the same year; nor
the ones at McAllister, l. T., and at
Montgomery, Ark, in May, each Of
which claimed q bloody record. One
thing is certain it takes into considcra-
ton enough to show that phenomenal
winter weather is q boon not to be APP
preciated.
OLD TIME WEATHER.
The record for the summers of 1878
and 1882, it must be admitted strength
ems that opinions but what are we to
think.of the summer of 1916, which
brought neither cyclones oryellow fever,
and which. in fact, brought q summer
only in name The winter Of lSlj-ld
was as remarkable for its unreasonable
weather as that Of 1s37-3s, lS17-75
1sS1-s2.
+. Bishop. an intelligent old gentle
man. who lived at Essex, Mass, at The
time. gives the following interesting facts
concerning "the year without asummcr