The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1907-06-21
YEAR WITHOUT SUMMER
STRANGE STORY OF THE FRloID
YEAR OF 1916.
HEAVY ICE FRozg IN AUGUST


Coolest Summer Ever Experienced
In the United States and Europe.
Prediction in 1897 Of Cold 1907.
Danbury (Conn) News The year
1916 was known throughout the United
States and Europe as the coolest ever
experienced by any person then living.
There are persons in northern New
York who have been In the habit of
keeping diaries for years, and II Is
from the pages Of an old diary begun
in 1910 and kept up unbroken until
1870 that the following information re-
garding this year without summer
has been taken.
January was so mild that most per
sons allowed their fires to go out and
did not burn wood except for cooking
There were few cold days, but they
were very few. Most OF the time the
air was warm and springlike. Febru-
AIRY was not cold Some days were
colder than any In January, but the
weather was about the same. March,
from the LIST to the 9Th, was inclined
lion and went out like very innocent
sheep.
April came In warm, but as the
days grew longer, the air became
colder, and by the first OF May there
was temperature like that OF winter,
with plenty of snow and Ice. In May
the young buds were frozen dead, ice
ha1 In thioly 10
and rivers, corn was killed, and the
cornfields were planted again and
again, until 1t became too late to raise
n crop. BY the last Of May In this
climate the trees are usually in leaf,
and birds and flowers are plentiful.
When the last Of May arrived in 1916
everything had been killed by the
cold.
June was the coolest month of roses
ever experienced in this latitude,
Frost and ice were as common as but
tercups usually are. Almost every
green thing was killed; all fruit was
destroyed. Snow fell ten inches deep
In Vermont. There was seven.inch
fall in the interior of New York state,
and the same in Massachusetts. There
were only few moderately warm
days. Everybody looked longed and
waited for warm weather, but warm
weather did not come.
1t was also dry; very little rain fell.
All summer long the wind blew stead.
lily from the north in blasts laden with
snow and ice. Mothers knit socks of
double thickness for their children,
and made thick mittens. Planting and
shivering were done together, and the
farmers who worked out their taxes
on the country roads wore overcoats
and mittens. tI"i 'stI1lsicn~, -.
On June II there was a heavy fall
of snow. A Vermont farmer sent a
flock of sheep to pasture on June 16.
The morning Of the 18th dawned with
the thermometer below the freezing
point. About o'clock in the morning
the owner Of the sheep started to look
for his flock. Before leaving home he
turned to his wife and said jokingly:
Better start the neighbors soon;
It's the middle Of June and may get
lost in the snow"
An hour after he had left home
snow fell thick and fast, and, as there
was so much wind, the tleecy masses
piled in great drifts along the wind
ward side of the fences and outbuild
ings. Night came and the farmer had
not been heard Of
His wife became frightened and
alarmed the neighborhood. All the
neighbors Joined the searching party
On the third day they found him. He
was lying in a hollow on the side hill
with both feet frozen; he was half
covered with snow, but alive. Most
of the sheep were lost.
A farmer near Tewsbury, VT, owned
a large field of corn. He built fires.
Nearly every night he and his men
took turns in keeping up the fire and
watching that the corn did not freeze.
The farmer was rewarded for his tire.
less labors by having the only crop of
corn in the region.
July came on with snow and ice.
On the Fourth of July ice as thick as
window glass formed throughout New
England, New York, and in some parts
of the state of Pennsylvania. Indian
corn, which, in some parts of the east,
had struggled through May and June,
gave up, froze and died
To the surprise of everybody, Aug
ust proved the worst month of all.
Almost every green thing in this coun,
try and Europe was blasted with frost.
SEVENTY YEARS AGO.