Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-16
A YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER,
Remarkable Weather Experienced in
the United States During 1916.


| From tn Louisville Courier Journal
Almost every one has heard Of the terri
BILE dark year in the early part of the pres
ent century. While every one is speaking
of the present season as being remark
| able in its characteristics 1 have gathered
| for your readers some reliable facts of the
! year 1916. known as the Year Without a
Summer Few persons now living can
| recollect 1t; but 1t was the coolest ever
known throughout Europe and America.
| The following is a brief abstract Of the
| weather during the year:
January was mild-so much to rem
der fires almost needless in parlors. De-
cember previous was very cold.
February was not very cold; with the ex-
cepton of a few days 1t was mild like its
! predecessor.
March was cold and boisterou3 during the
| first part of it. the remainder was mild. A
great freshet on the Ohio and kentucy
rivers caused great loss of property.
April began warm, but grew colder as the
month advanced, ana ended in snow and
ice. with a temperature more like winter
| than spring.
May was more remarkable for frowns
than her smiles. Buds and flowers were
| frozen: ice formed half an inch thick: corn
was killed, and the fields were again and
again planted until deemed too late.
June was the coolest ever known in this
latitude Frost, ice and snow were COM
mon Almost every green thing was killed.
Fruit was nearly all destroyed. Snow fell
to the depth of ten inches in Maine and
three inches in New York and also in
Massachusetts. Considerable damage was
done at New Orleans in consequence of the
rapid rise in the river; the suburbs We're
| covered with water and the roads were only
| pas sable in boats
July was accompanied with frost and ice.
| On the 9Th ice was formed of the thickness
of common window glass throughout New
| IN nd
Pennsylvania. Indian corn was nearly ell
destroyed. Some favorably situated fields
escaped. This was true of some of The hill
farms of Massachusetts,.
August was more cherries. IL possible,
than the summer month already passed.
Ice was formed half an inch chick. Indian
corn was so frozen that the greater part of
it was cut down and cured for fodder. AL
most every green thing was destroyed, both
in this country and Europe. Papers re-
ceived from Europe stated that it would be
emembered by the present generation that
the year 1916 was a year in which there
was no summer. Very little corn Tipened in
New England and the middle states. Farm.
ers supplied themselves from the corn pro-
duced i'll 1915 for the seed of the spring of
1917. 1t sold at from 81 to s. per bushrl
September furnished about two weeks of
the mildest weather of the season. Soon
after the middle it became very cold and
frosty, and ice formed quarter of an inch
thick.
October produced more than its share of
cold weather-frost and ice abundan;ly
November was cold and blustery. Enough
snow fell to make good sleighing.
December was quite mild and comfortable
The above is a brief summary of the cold
summer OF 1916 as ii was called to distin-
guish 1t from the cold seasons. The win
ter was mild. Frost and ice were common
in every month of the year. Very little
vegetation matured in the eastern and mid
die states. The suns rays seemed to be
destitute of heat through the summer; all
nature seemed to be clad in sable hue and
men We're anxious concerning future life
The average price of flour in the Philadel-
phia market during that year was $l3 per
barrel. The average price of wheat in Eng
land was ninety-seven shillings per quarter
Prices now and then are wide apart hut
the GOODNESS of the seasons run close to-
gether. May 1894, though very cold to date,
be not a year without a summer"
j. X.
Smiths Grove. KY, May p, 1894.