Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-02-26
INTERESTING RECORD.
Grcnf storms OF England and Amert-
ca-Tbeir Intensity and Comparison.
lFor the Dispatch)

our recent cold spell, Win ifs attend
ing horror6. has led me 10 trace back the
storms Of England and America, COM
pairing their intensity. 10 see n our eli
mate has undergone any changes during
the years OF. American settlement.
Records Of severe freezing al over
Europe can be traced from even the year
20 70 the present time which will show
a marked severity in the temperature o.
England 20 what II now S.. II you com
pare these years OF ex cessive cold with
those recorded in the United states from
It's first settlement. We VIII find that
in many instances the same storm mas
affected both countries almost sinful
taneously thus evidently proving That our
climate has undergone the same periodi-
cal extremes Of cold which have marked
all Europe. and which seems 20 have
e1erfed an influence upon the entlIe
Northern Hemisphere which is doubtless
attributable 10 the position OF the earth
10 the planetary system. We need hardy
70 hack 10 the days ~ Julius Caesar
where the Rhin6 was frozen over WhtI"
the olive and the vine now nouflshee' OF
20 tho days 81 Horace. when tne noun
taius near Rome were covered WIN 1to~ II.
vat II is interesting 70 note from lons
/ list few Of the years Of intense cYil
which prevailed over Europe In the
earliest period ~ ~ history. ,,
In the year ~ frost lasted I'm Eng a ,i
five months IN the years -, ~ 90 30,
| w COS and s23. the Thames river was
/ frozen over from two 10 six months at "a
time. In many instances Booths W.
/ built upon the Ice ana people hFeu ~
them. IN SO and 1874 the Mediteffa-
/ rean was frozen over and carts drove
/ upon g. In iili the Ice broke down az
] the bridges in England. In li5i 9nG ip'a
! the river Thames was frozen 10 crave
/ end. and the freeze lasted thirteen Wetns'
! Great cold ana heavy HnoW-rl"fn IT
| vailed from December 90 March. liw. IN
/ the year 17lG fair was held on the lce
I 600 the Thames; also. 10 lt35. ~neh Nhe
/ cold lasted from December Tor lv5 Gay :.
/ ia 1852 snow fen for eleven days all over
/ England Remarkably deep SHOWS also
occurred In l7al and l7&
/ One of the heaviest falls az snow, whlch
| did great damage. occurred IN January.
! 1914 and another was in 1916. Many w.
| were lost in England by tho great thaW
Of january and February, lse. Frost and
| snow. with hail. were In midsummer over
I parts of England. and In Italy and SPAN
! during December of 1871
! I'm 1859 ODE cold was intense nll over
| Europe and iu 1896 % was recorded as the
| worst iu the memory Of man
AS thermometers were not invented Until
! 100 ami improved Boy hcemmur In lill
! and bv Fahrenheit iu 1870 the cold Of the
| precs but during the seventeenth ana
! eighteenth centuries 10 WAS estimated az
| IS degrees below zero for the coolest
/ periods
| winters from the jamestown settlement
! We will nnd that the winters tailed ire
| Qucnuy with those 81 England. The
! winter ~ 1901 was extremely cold in Wiz
/ gluia, and 10 was remarkable Tor extra
! ordinary irosts BOO Europe which fact Dc
| mentioned by Stith This was the win
ter in which Captain Smith was thktt
/ prisoner BOZ the Chickahominy swamp b}
! Opcchaucanaugh, and smith also men
| lions the eNtreme GOLD. Ihls, 100. Wa
| the winter when Henry ~. had his bearC
] frozen IN bed at Paris. IN this yeai
Haloy's comet appeared on It's seventy
| nfth-ycar revolution, and again n return
! cd iu 1852. In December. 1851. the Della
ware was frozen over at Chester. and th'
| cold weather was attributed % the come
| Ia both eases
IN 1853. as before mentioned. the who'll
/ length Of the Thames river was frozen
I ana the same winter O6H-'AO William
| Penn says "was the coolest the Oldes
| liver in the province could remember
| Tho Intense cold Of llb which occurred
! In Europe, was also felt I'm this country
| Mr.. jefferson records 10 as beginning b.
| November OF that year while his hous
az Monticello was unfinished. stopping al
| further work upon u, ana such was On
/ cold that on tho %. Of the month 10
! NfNuNN WAS hHfN ifNati anu remained "a
| all winter. MT Jefferson also record
the severe winter of 1850. when the Chcsa
pcalIe was frozen from it's head 90 th
/ mouth of the Potomac. and az Annapolis
where 10 o. nvc and a quarter miles wide
| the ice was i've 20 seven inches thick
/ and carriages drove across. In lil2 th
| snow az Washington was three feet oil
/ the level and in places driltcd % tc
| and twelve feet. The winters Of lisi ant
1914 were thought 90 be the coolest IN On
] d hUN ~
/ in England. thus showing that our recon
/ for cold weather ts stili maintaiue
| with that of the Mother Country, ana ina
our earth Is probably entering again upol
| series OF severe winters which uhdc
the cycle Of time We may expect.
The theory which was held by Mr.. JET
fersOn and many others that our clma Y
had undergone chance ana was iuole
rating. As not maintained, though az m
time he wrote there was a period OF mil
winters which we have frequently 'N
perienced. Yet l think during the cen
fury which is closing. We nave Lao oI
fun quota 81 cold winters ana deep snow
. which seem 10 come as heretofore away
/ in January and February, Followed %
warm weather and sometimes a yer
early spring.
The cold ~ iS5s which see many writ
or has been mistaken for that or 49,
We had two heavy SHOWS In 1855, and tw
| during ths winter OF 1850. which SCENE
10 gradually increase In severity. ana pa
| up 10 the great storm or 1871, 30 ~ va
with our recent experience; the winter
Of 1885 and 1897 were quite severe ana Gu.
minated in the present storm OF ~
which / think will compare faNoraoi
with any OF I'VE olden times =,
Keswick. Va. February, 1873.
| -~-
DE ROVLEDE's COMO "CotP."
/ n.s-