Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-03-27
Remarkable Spells Of Weather.
wETTEsT AND DRYEsT-CoLDEsT AND
WARMEST.

W L ~
WARMEST.
Though we have had hard weather
this winter it has by no means reached
the severity of past seasons OF this
century. A gentleman to-day kindly
gave State reporter much interesting
Information concerning the weather
for the past seventy-flve years, which
he can vouch for, having either ex-
perienced it himself or often heard his
father speak of it.
1.-The first memorable weather." said
he, THAT l know of was in 1916. when
there was frost in the counties around
Richmond every month in the year but
one; and in the northwest counties
during every month. That year had
also one of the greatest droughts of the
century. Wheat reached the price of
SO bushel, or $40 a barrel for -four
The next season of interest was in
1827-2S. In February the fruit trees
were in bloom and the wheat was
headed.
.Op the Saturday before the second
Sunday of February, 1885. probably
one of the coolest spells and most sud
den changes occurred. In the morning
it was so balmy that even ordinary
clothing was almost oppressive. But
in four hours there was such change
that people caught out without wraps
| were almost frozen, and in the course
of five hours the thermometer had fall
len about 70 degrees. On the succeed
ing night James river was frozen over
so firmly that persons could walk far
on the ice.
I'm 1888 drought continued with;
out rain for two months. On the 1th
of August this was broken by cyclone,
followed by shower.
| In 1916 quite different experience
befell this part of the State. From the
1st of May until the LIST of August there
very copious. Hence there were many
freshers in creeks and rivers. On
August LIST the rain stopped and until
October there was a drought. causing
| the most widespread epidemic OF ma
laria probably of the century.
"There was another cold spell, begin
| ming on the first day of January, 1856.
| That day the thermt meter descended
to 20 degrees below zero; eighteen
inches of snow fell, and for month
the thermometer lowered in the
neighborhood of Zero. This cold spell
killed many fruit trees, also much
game, and extended through April
| spring not beginning well until May.
1.-The succeeding winter was remark
able for the most severe snow storm
| Virginia has experienced these ten de
cades. Though the storm had a wide
area, the greatest severity was felt iI
| Virginia. It commenced in one of the
earliest days in January, the ther
mometer dropping to five degrees be
| low, and again it stayed at about this
point for nearly a month. This storm
was remarkable for its drifts, fences
! being entirely covered, and in some
cases even small houses. the snow being
in many places twenty feet deep. Dur
ing this time the public roads had tc
| be almost abandoned !; 1866-67 was also
very cold winter, large amounts Of
snow fell and the rivers in eastern Vir
GINA and even Chesapeake Bay were
frozen over. The temperature fire.
quently fell below zero. During the
March of that year there were only one
or two clear days.
| 1889 contained the wettest season oil
| the century, even more watery than
1S48, when there were almost daily
rains from May until August. The
latter year also there WAS almost a
complete failure of the crops, in the
bottomlands of the James hardly an
average of bushel- an acre being
reaped,
I'm 1923 there was another cold
spell. In the neighboring counties the
thermometer dropped to ten degrees
below and remained very low for days
1884 was very mild winter, the
result being that there was the widest
spread destruction of fruit through the
middle States east of the Mississippi
of he century.
Last of all, the cold spell of 1S94-5 il
still fresh and white in our memories
the thermometer dropping repeatedly
below zero and once again James river
was fast in the jaws of winter.'-Rach
n1Oald State.