The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1915-01-02
WEATHER RECORD
FOR THE PAST YEAR
NEW ONE ESTABLISHED IN THE
DEFICIENCY OF RAIN
FALL.

.DuTlHS tne year 1914, q rev new
weather records were established, the
most important being the remarkable
deficiency in rainfall The annual to-
tai is 1892 inches, or 172S inches be-
low the normal. This deficiency Is far
below that Of any other year of rec
ord. The year, 1904, was 1895 inches
short, and the year 1910, was 9.S4
inches short. Compared with 1904,
the previous driest year, the deficiency
for 1914 is 4.93 inches greater.
A survey of the total monthly
amounts shows that each month, ex-
cept August and September, had less
than the normal rainfall. AS the
months of November and December,
1913, were deficient in RAINFALL and
also January, February, and March Of
1914, the ground was deprived of much
moisture usually accumulated during
the winter months; and this situation
in conjunction with consistently dry
April and May, followed by June with
rainfall next to the least of recor l,
produced the severest drought ever
known in this vicinity.
The month of January was generally
fair and mild. There was prolonged
rainless period from the Sd to the goth,
the longest dry spell Of record for jan
uary.
February was also deficient in rain
fall, and as usual, was month Of rap
i'd weather changes. The chief occur
renee Of interest during the month was
| the heavy snow on the morning of the
25th A total Of 80 inches was meas
ured at 10 a. m, that amount being
somewhat less than the heavy snow
on February 2, 1901.
| March of this year was next to the
coolest month of that name, the mean
Temperature being 51.S degrees, or As
degrees below the normal There
were 8 days with freezing temperature
! during the month. There was a de-
/ ficiency of about 2.5 inches in rainfall,
and the general disagreeableness of
the month was further increased by
the occurrence of snow fiurries on the
| Sth and 21st. Those were the 4th and
5th times that snow had been observed
during March for a period of 20 years
The weather was unfavorable for the
rapid termination of seed, but 1t de-
layed the blossoming of fruit trees
long enough to minimize the damage
that would result to premature bios
some from late frosts.
April was not generally, unfavoraDle
for farming work, though there was
marked deficiency in rainfall. The
last killing frost of spring occurred or
April 10th, which was nearly three
weeks later than the average date
The only hail storm of the year oc
Cured on the Sth.
The more or less unfavorable wealth
er of spring was continued. through
May, which was a month character
lied by long periods of dry cold wealth
er. The precipitation during the
month was next to the least of record
for May, or more than inches below
the normal.
During June all previous records fol-
high temperature in that month were
broken, making June the warmes
month of record. The monthly meal
temperature was 1876 degrees, 6.3 de
grees above the normal, and IL dc
grees higher than the mean of August
1912, which was the previous warmes
month. There were 20 days during
June with the maximum temperature
at 80, or above; and during days o.
that period (from the 25th to 20th)