Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1916-03-20
A WEATHER AYTH
The Idea That the Old Fashioned
Winter Was a Fury.
FAMOUS FRosTs WERE RARE,


storms and Lonu Seasons oi Hard
Freezing We're Not All tho Rule.
Testimony Of pspys and Evslyn.
Perhaps the greatest Of weather
myths IL the legend OF the "old fash.
toned winter'--that prolonged season
OF leo and snow which In supposed TO
have held the land In Its grip every
year. SO firmly has this Idea been held
for many years that Il came as n shock
when meteorologlsts ilrst began 10
delve Into the records OF the past aud
prove It's innccuracy,
There can be no doubt tbnt Charles
Dickens. Washington irving. artists
who depicted winter scenes. aud, Ia a
later ora. the Christmas number aud
the Christmas card are mainly respon.
slble Tor the belief that Up 10 about
hnlf century ago the British winters
were always extremely severe.
Such records Us we possess prove the
fallaey Of the Idea. No records Of the
weather were kept up 20 about iifty
or sixty years ago, 80 that we have 10
rely on tho statements Of private dia.
rlcs aud old family records, and there.
fore II tukes lot Of research % obtain
any data M all.
In 0lden times no one troubled 10
make note of average weather. FOR
writing was an nrt possessed only by
few. and writing materials were hard
10 obtain; hence II IL that mention IL
made only OF something unusual. some
abnorinully mild winter or heavy fall
OF snow or prolonged frosts.
And whch all h said there are com.
paratlycly few OF the latter. although
thoy were likely 10 hc recorded, while
tho mIlder ones would be passed over
A few years ago there were published
In France some notes concerning very
mild winters IN early times, Gregory
OF Tours tells us that 5si was cxccp.
tionally mild. ns were the winters OF
SOS, s3i. si4 and i00T. when Influenza
was rife.
Another mild season occurred In
Ia29. when tho birds are said 10 have
ha,ched their young by February,
while the weather journal OF the Rev,
william Merle. which is In the Bod
leian library at oxford. shows MS that
during the middle OF the fourteenth
century the weather was very much as
II IL now and that mild winters Were
not uncommon.
There We're one or two mild winters
during the next hundred years, the
most notable one being that of 1905
when barley and corn were In the car
at the end OF January. Writings OF the
sixteenth century have similar testl
mony TO offer. the one or two exccp'
tlons only going 10 prove the rule be
cause they aroused 40 much comment
pepys and Evelyn come TO our aid
from the middle 20 the end OF the sew
enteenth century ana prove conclusive
~ that the old fashioned winter IL a
myth. The dalries OF these famous
writer's have been analysed. and M n
result II IL found that falls OF snow
are mentioned only thirteen times over
nearly sixty years, while exceptionally
heavy storms are referred to only three
times.
In the same period there were but
six prolonged frosts. and apparently
only the famous one OF 1854 and an
other few years later were so severe
as the modern ones OF 1901 and 1895.
In Janunry. 1861. Pepys comments on
the mild winter, and In December OF
the following year he notes that he
awoko to find the roofs covered with
snow. which be had not seen for three
years.
Evelyn has the same story to tell
few hard winters and many mild
ones. Such years were 16s0.7 Dec.
20, Little appearance Of winter as
yet" and 1929, Feb. 4. "Hitherto
an exceedingly mild winter-an ex'
traordinaiily dry ana warm season.
without frost and like new spring,
such as has not been known for many
years."
Here and there we come across ref.
erences to the weather which are Just
Ike the letters written to modern
newspapers informing readers that
''roses and priinroscs were IN bloom In
my garden on Christmas day. Gil
bert Whites record Of the weather be.
tween 170S aud 1903 helps to end the
myth, for the same number OF years
at the present dny would show pretty
much tho same sort 'of woather, as
thirteen OF the Decembers We're mild
and wet. eNP
There were mild winters In the begin
ming of the nineteenth century, as well
m one or two severe ones, so that we
may rest assured that the "old fash.
Toned winter" was just like the new
fashioned ones.- Ernest G. Pulbrook
IN London Family Herald. Nf
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ltuok "a Hja Rule.