The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-01-04
THE WEATHER LAST YEAR
Wat the Statistics Compiled by OBJ
server II. E. Paine Show-' Much
the Same as lis Predecessor.

The year of 1896 is now an old year.
though to the vast majority of the liv-
ing It is still a new, or at least a year.
On the whole it proved itself well
behaved period of time, not much un-
like it's immediate predecessor. The
year gave us momcntous developments
in the sciences, arts and all things
ministered unto by the genius of man,
but staid old mother nature did little
out of the ordinary during the three
hundred and sixty-six days of the
years existence.
To be sure at times she eXerted an
unduly energetic influence on the ele-
ments, causing them to cavort about in
unusual vrulence sometimes to the dis
comfort and destruction of human life
and property. But locally, so the rec
ords of Voluntary Weather Observer II.
f.. Paine, of this city, tell us the winds,
the rains and heat and cold have been
generally well behaved Scrantonians
during the year were not subjected to
any unusual extremes in temperatures,
snow or rain falls or storms.
In some respects the weather COndi-
tions were abnormal; for instance, the
temperature average for the year was
high being 3 4-5 degrees higher than
that of the preceding year. Then
again, the amount of precipitation
Gainfall and melted snow) was Consd-
/ cradle below the average of several
| years past. The precipitation was
| 2S 47-100 inches for the year, which is
| four inches and a fraction lower than
| the average yearly rainfall as record
| ed by the observer.
In the case of the high temperature,
| the cause was a long season of high
| temperature which began in the month
of April and continued till late in the
fall. 1t was this long season of high
temperature that brought the average
of the year high.
The amount of precipitation or rain
! fall for the year was low because of
the deficiency of snow fall and rain
during the early months of the year.
To illustrate, during the month OF
January there was only a precipitation
of 1S-100 of an inch, and February
brought with it only 1O-1OO of an inch.
while the old standby month for the
rainfall gauge, April, which usually
! furnishes between three and four
inches of rainfall last year only gave
97-1O0 of an inch precipitation. The
prevailing winds for the year, true to
!
from the west. For seven months of
the year the wind was from this direC-
tion and for four months they pre-
vailed from the south while from the
bleak north the winds prevailed for
! one month.
During the year there We're 121 clear
days, 80 partly cloudy days and l5J
days that were what the weather au-
thorties call cloudy. There We're s;
days during the 3G5 on which it rained
The year developed only three Local
| storms of noteworthy force. They oc-
CURED respectively on Feb. G, when q
rainfall of IL inches fell; March 10
which poured down IA inches, and on
oct. Is, when the very heavy rainfall
of 1925 inches occurred. In the line
of snow and thunder storms, 1896 die
nothing unusual, that is, locally; and il
should be borne in mind that the sta
tistics and comments herein are al
confined to the area of this and con.
tiguous counties.