The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1916-08-16

MONTHLY WEATHER SUMMARY
GIVES INTERESTING STATS.
TICS OF STORM.
RsinSAu Was Heaviest Ever Recorded
aaa Rivers Broke Flood Records
I.oss in santcc and Pee Dec Sections
Estinased at $500, 900.


raina winds and freshets made last
month In South Carolina most unusual
and the current monthly summary by
Richard H. Sullivan Of Columbia, Sec
tien director of the United States
weather bureau. is particularly In
tsrssting. The summary presents In
COMPACT and oficial form q general
survey which nobody could have COM
pjlsd at the time. with mails inter-
rut<sd and wires down In many dis
triets.
roIlowing 10 the summary in part:
July was q remarkably stormy
nonth. with rainfall far In excess Of
sny previous record In the history Of
esuth Carolina. Temperatures ranged
oopsldsrably below the seasonal av-
(sass. and the mean for the section
was close TO the lowest July average.
P6rsistsnt showsry weather culmi-
natsd In the enormous rainfall that
attended the South Atlantic hurricane
thSt paassd over, the section between
~ 18th and 18th and. ~ q result
tha esntss river system experienced
ths most extended and disastrous
ateds In its history.
'Whils the winds accompanying the
61Deurbance were not extraordinarily
Nh, the force was such that crops
NJ tmmsnss areas were beaten nat
mo sosgy gtound. resulting In sx-
th11ve losssa General crop dsterior-
tf)oh sss In after the first decade.
tIo - continuous wet. cloudy wealth
~. npla accumulation Of grass. and
1habldty Of planters to cultivate tho
IN. ~
''The damage By floods In the san
W and Pee lee systems. comprisins
b4des4 r6ads crops. etc. at this
tf1tihg. - conssrvativs,y estimated at
4bSst t~.soe. .oeo. while movable prop
ettS estimated at . value Of about
SAee.ee was saved by timely warn-
N1r Of the weather bureau. In the
4eetssAte. about taco. 900 represents
~ damage In South Carolina. and
t1teoximatsly sso.ooo acres Of crops
~ affected"
ssrhs situation was consid srsbly
tettsr n The western portion. whore
~ rainfall ~as neither 20 heavy nor
= prslthS<d. t1swsvsr. the early
corn crop wss ptaeticAiiy made dur-
ins the month ana forage peas. cane.
sweet potatoes and pastures grew
Jexuriantly. At the close Of the
nenth. cotton. was not fruiting well
md had begun to shed. and In some
pArts nhoppipg had not been COM
pleted. !,
THE monthly mean temperature
for the section, determined from re-
ports of - stations. was IT'S desrees..
or II degrees below the esta biished
normal ~ degrees cooler thar, the
hot Juiys Of 1887 and 1899, and but
"a dsgrss a6ove the mean of the cool
July Of 1884. The highest tempera-
tnrs was % degrees at Newberry on
NJ ID. All previous Juiys. except
one. during the last 80 years have had
maximum temperatures Of 90 or
aoevs. The w,rmest period was gen.
esnily between the LIST and lth over
The western portion. and local max
imum temperatures occurred on
various dates In the remainder Of the
ssction. The lowest temperature was
20 degrees at 'chsraw on the 9Th and
q Winthrop college on the 27th.
Twenty-sight previous Julys have had
ninimum temperatures Of so degrees
Or lower. The coolest period of the
month was generally during the FIRST
decade.
The average precipitation for the
pction. IS stations reporting, was
it.ss inches. or s.ss inches above the
established normal and 2.23 inches
abovs the previous highest average
sonce Statewide, observations were be-
gun. namediy: that Of August, 1893.
ccpious showers to excessive rains oc-
Cured In some part of the western
Dortion every day. while there were
put two short dry periods In the east
,srn portion during the month. verit-
able cioudbursts occurred over the
sastern and extreme northern coun-
ties. where the monthly amounts rang
Cd from Is to over 81 inches: over the
western part Of the section toward the
savannah watershed the amounts
ranged from 10 to below 6 inches.
"A very large proportion of this
enormous rainfall was developed dur
ing the passage Of the South Atlantic
hurricane that approached the Caro-
lima coast on the 18th. passed north