The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1904-11-24
WEATHER DATA OF
VERY GREAT VALUE

Through the kindness of Edward A,
Beals, sectional director for Oregon,
weather bureau, Portland, we have a
limited number of copies of the monthly
climate and crop bulletin of that de-
partment for free distribution to our
patrons.
1t is very interesting and valuable
document to anyone interested in the
climatology of Oregon. 1t contains
brief history of the weather station at
Hood River which was established by
Dr. K. J. Thomas in September 1889
and has been kept continuously since.
DR.. Thomas resigned in 1891 and DR.. P.
G. Barrett succeeded him and kept the
record until few days before his death,
January Z, 1900. Joseph Hengst was
then appointed and kept the record un-
til May 1904, when he resigned and was
succeeded by d. N. Byerlee, the present
observer.
The state is divided into five districts: ::
Coast district with IL stations; Villain
ette valley ,1S; Southern Oregon, s; Co.
lumbia river valley, Is, and Plateau dis
trict, with 26 stations; II stations in all,
From these II stations are gathered and
compiled the weather statistics by Sec
tional Director Beals which largely make
up the matter contained in these bulle-
tins, the present one being for the
month of October 1904. 1t is special
Hood River number and gives the rec
ords of temperature for Hood River
from 1889 to 1904 inclusive; showing
mean maximum, mean minimum, mean
temperature, maximum and minimum
for each month and year during this
period. 1t also gives the rainfall for
q years from 1884 to 1904 inclusive,
which was made possible by the use of
Dr. Barrett's records Of precipitation
kept prior to the establishment of a To-
cal station at Hood River.
1t also gives the daily readings of the
temperature and precipitation from all
the n stations in the state during the
month of October, with other climate
logical data of interest to our readers.
This publication will be valuable to
Fasteners who wish to learn something
of the climatic conditions at Hood River,
the more so because of its accuracy, the
observations having been taken with
government instruments, the best
that can be procured. The CONNER
cial club could no doubt place number
of copies where they would do great
deal of good in this manner.
The bulletin has the following to say
of the climatology of Hood River:
Hood River, Wasco county, is situated
on the south bank of the Columbia river
at point where it receives the waters
of the river after which the town is
named. The Hood River valley extends
from the Columbia south to Mount
Hood, distance of about 30 miles, and
is from to miles wide. 1t is sur
rounded by high hills and mountains
having an altitude of from 1000 to
5000 feet.
The station was established by DR..
E. j. Thomas in September, 1889, al
though previous record of the rainfall
had been kept by DR.. ?. G. Barrett, who
became the observer when DR.. Thomas
resigned in 1891. DR.. Barrett continued
the observations to within few days of
his death, which occurred on January 7,
1900. Joseph Hengst was tnen appoint
ed observer, and he kept the record un-
til May 1904. He was succeeded by d.
N. Byerlee, the present observer. Up
to May 7, 1904, the station was situated
about five miles from the town, but on
that date Mr.. Byerlee moved the iHstru-
ments to Oakdale, his country home,
where they are now located.
The present station is in latitude 42o
42/ N, longitude 1919 30/ W.; elevation
243 feet. The maximum and minimum
thermometers are exposed in standard
shelter located l20 feet south of the OBJ
servers houses l! story frame dwelling;
the bulbs of the thermometers are feet
from the ground. The rain gage is As
feet west of the shelter and los south of
the house; the top of the gage is three
feet above the ground.
The highest recorded temperature at
Hood River was 1899 ,on August l5,l90l;
the lowest was 100 below zero, on jan
uary 81, and February !, 1898. The av-
erage number of days each year with the
temperature above 90o is 8, and the av-
erage number of days with the temper
ature below the freezing point is "a.
Average date of first killing frost in
autumn, October II; average date of
last killing frost in the spring, April
II.
The mean annual precipitation is
3S. 38 inches, and it is heaviest during
the winter and spring months and least
in midsummer. The number of rainy
days average l29, and the yearly snow
fall is 778 inches. The prevailing winds
are from the west. The temperature
and precipitation tables show in detail
the main characteristics of these two
elements as recorded by the Hood River
observers.