The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-06
MERCURYS CENTURY RUN.
THERMOMETER MADE THE SEA-
SONS RECORD YESTERDAY.

4 Cool" Hundred Was the Mark the
weather Bureaus Instrument
Reached-The Hour of the Greatest
Heat was at O'Clock in the At
ternoon-High Temperatures Pre-
vniI Throughout the SOuth-Savan-
nah Was the Hottest of All the
stations. HOwever-The First Time
This Summer the Mercury Has
Gone So High.
No one would care 10 deny the assertion
that ii was hot yesterday. 1t was unmis-
takabfy so. Everybody was talking about
the heat Ii is usually the case that the
weather bureau says it is a few degrees
less than the popular superstition pro-
claims, but in the record shown by the
instrument at the office there is no room
left for a kick The official thermometer
indicated 100 degrees.
Doubtless there we're plenty of thermom-
eters of mongrel type about town thai
showed hotter weather than 100. Often
cheap instruments are unreliable, and the
mercury n them stands constantly either
too high or too low. Specimens of that sort
may have induced many 10 believe they
were sweltering in a heat Of l05.
Owners of thermometers or those who
chance 10 observe them sometimes fail TO
consider the surroundings. A thermometer
may be placed where heat is reelected and
the mercury shows several degrees more
Galore Than the atmosphere is really res
nonsibe for. Many business houses have
thermometers planted in their doors where
they catch al the heat chat is radiated
from the burning payements. OF course
the thermometers rise, and people passing
observe them and inveigh against the
weather
At the weather bureau station the OBJ
server is careful to see that there are no
undue influences exerted. The effort is
made 10 secure the temperature as 1t
really is. radiat ions and reflections being
avoided as much as possible. 1t is through
this care that the discrepancies between
the official thermometer and those scat
tered indiscriminately about the city &C
cur.
For the last few days it has been noted
that the highest temperatures have been
attained during the afternoon Ordinarily
the hottest hours are from nom TIL
o'clock but the declining sun ofc1ate fails
to take away any of its heat. After il
passes the meridian it appears 10 increase
in its burning glare. 1t was at o'clock
yesterday that the mercury reached 100.
The minimum temperature was n de-
grees That was at~-1 in the morning.
The mean temperature was s., which was
s degrees warmer than weather has shown
to be the usual lot of Aug. 5.
The highest temperature in the country
was that indicated in Savannah. Other
places showed as high a mean temperature
while jacksonville showed an even higher.
That city had 80 degrees to its credit
though its highest mark was but SO.
The weather at Charleston went down a
! bit. Its 100 degrees dwindled to 9S. Nor
| folk had 49, while Wilmington, Raleigh and
| Augusta had SO degrees. The 100 mark
| reached at Savannah was the highest this
| season.
| Notwithstanding the intense heat there
was no news of prostrations during the
| day. Ordinarily during such siege as
| that of the last few days there are one OF
| more sunstrokes, but thus far, luckily they
| have failed to appear as one of the evil:
| of high temperatures
August thus far has been shy of rain
too. None has fallen, and the month Is
| l Is inches short. That rain is needed II
shown by the great clouds of dust that are
raised by every wind and the downcast ap
pearance shrubbery takes on What crops
are now being raised by truck farmers il
the vicinity stand greatly in need of rain
and the grass on which they are counting
for hay viii hardly furnish more than enc
cutting if such hot, dry weather continues