The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-01-16
YESTERDAY THE COOLEST
Mercury Started in at Fifteen Below
Zero and Staid in that Vicinity.
Terrific Cold Wave that Came Down from
Alaska in Twenty Four HOurs-Churches
Dismissed fox Want of Heat.

Where is the man who said cold winters
were a thing OF the past in this locslityf
1t would have been exceedingly dangerous
for him to have shown himself about
o'clock yesterday morning, when the mer-
curry in the thermometer at the weather
bureau had gone down to 40 below zero
Even this low temperature. however.
showed rise OF one degree from that
reached during the night. when the mer-
curry crept down TO 150 below. This marks
the coolest temperature since the winter OF
1881, when. upon the 25th day OF January.
the mercury showed 25O below zero. The
cold wave which has just sojourned
with us for few hours was pre-
dicted By the observer here, but
he miscalculated as to the speed with
which 1t was travelling and its velocity
was something phenomenal. The mons
frosty was. of course. born in the polar
regions and first made itself known to hu-
manlty In Alaska. and it travelled from
that far on land IN twenty-four hours and
came down upon us with all Its polar
frigidity. 1t stayed with us Just long
enough TO get slightly acquainted and then
rushed on eastward. and last night OBJ
server Wappenbans heard from il at the
mouth of the ST. Lawrence. Dispatches re-
ceived yesterday show that the cold wave
was most severe at this point and Chicago.
At 1918 last night the dispatches re-
ceived here showed that warmer Temporal
ture was at hand. with q probability of
light snow to-day. At that hour the zero
line was shown To extend from New Eng
land and the lake regions across Mime
sofa and North Dakota and Montana. with
the reports from all points showing rising
temperature.
The short-lived cold snap Will probably
be remembered for some time TO come and
In future winters the temperature of that
cold Sunday In January OF 1898 will be the
basis OF comparison In matters of tenn
perature. The extreme cold had Its effect
upon the gas supply, and a number of per-
sons found their gas altogether insufficient
and went back TO the pristine wood or coal
tire. At the hendricks Club rooms the gas
failed completely and q couple of rousng
coal fires were started TO furnish the requi-
site warmth. There was no morning
service at ST. PauPs or Madison-avenue
churches on account of the INSULT cheney of
the supply of fuel. and q number of other
churches cut short their morning service.
Mr.. Wappenhans hss some interesting
tables on file In his Office, andiby consult
ing them last night he gave the idiosyncra-
sizes OF the mercury for several years past.
Beginning with about the winter of 1S71-72
hesaId that the win tiers alternated warm and
sold until so After that time they grad
ually grew colder and a succession of cold
winters came, lasting until 'SS. This was
followed by warmer winters until 49, which
was the warmest ever known In this vicini-
", and since then they have gradually
grown colder and Mr.. Wappenhans thinks
we will now have another period of alter
mating warm and cold winters. The cause
of the past few warm winters. he says, was
due to the excessively warm summers in
the Southern hemisphere. when the warm
ar found an outlet TO the north.