Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-11
1881 TO HANG UP
RECORD AS HOTTEST
YEAR IN CENTURY

Continued From First Page)
date has been recorded in any OF the
other 12-month periods.
The geographical order has been
turned upside down. Both North and
South have been hotter than normal,
but the North has shown tendency,
especially in the past two months, to
be actually as we'll as relatively hotter
than the South. The farther North
one goes the greater the heat excess.
Excess Figures TabuIated.
Here are some Of the excess figures
fer the past 10 months, prepared by
DR.. j. B. Kincer. head of the Depart
nent of Agricultural Meteorology OF
the United states Weather Bureau:
Washington, TOT degrees, or 2.3 per
cay: New York, $50 degrees or %
day: Cincinnati, 70l. or %; Columbus.
GOA. or 2: Buffalo. GIL, or %; Detroit.
Lis, or 81; Chicago, l'i37, or ~
Milwaukee, 1.467, or 4.8; Minneapolis,
1909. or Sc: ST. Paul 1899, or s.;
Springfield, Ill, 1899 or Sc: st. Louis.
ISL, or rs; Kansas City, 1,12l, or 81;
Yankton, S. Oak, 1,84l, or g.; Huron,
S. Oak. 2.092, or 60: Bismark. N. OAK.
l.T7l. or So: Moorehead, Mimi, 1924,
or 6.S; Fargo. N Oak, ! 1863, or g.;
Burlington, Vt, l4l, or 0.5, and Boston,
876, or 20.
The maximum average Of nearly Z
degrees a day above normal, reported
from Huron. S. Oak. Weather Bureau
officials state, indicates some I'M
usual weather, since much of the eX-
cess was piled up in heat waves. One
month-May-wa colder than normal
over practically the entire country.
Every other month has been decidedly
above normal, except in patches.
The weekly temperature maps show
consistent clustering of abnormal
temperatures in the Middle West from
Tennessee to the Canadian line and
from the Appalachians to the Rockies.
Atlantic and Pacific coasts have been
on the fringe of this hot zone. both
showing excuses, but not sensational
ones.
Recent Weather Freakish.
Although the strange reversal Of
geographic order has been apparent
all the year the weird freak has been
most apparent in r~lent Geographic
reports to the Weather Bureau. This
week there was hard frost in Merid-
ian. Miss, while Milwaukee has not
experienced freezing weather. Last
week Mississippi gardens were nipped
while late vegetables were ripening and
flowers blooming in Eastern Iowa.
Weather Bureau scientists do not
know the cause of the hot year" They
do not know whether 1t is unique in
meteorological history for North Amer
lea, since the temperature RECORDS only
go back about q century, and the re-
liable ones for only about so years.
But it appears to be the hottest year
experienced by anybody now living
within the limits OF the United States.
The month by-month picture of the
heat excess follows:
January, warmer than normal for the
whole country, with excuses reaching
to II degrees in the Middle West; Feb
ruary, from to 19 degrees warmer over
the entire country; March, colder than
normal everywhere, except in New Eng
land along the Canadian border and
on the Pacific Coast; April, slightly
under normal for the Gulf and South
Atlantic States, but above everywhere
else; May, colder everywhere except the
extreme western quarter of the coun-
try; June, / to 9 degrees above normal
everywhere; July, l to degrees above
normal everywhere: August, below nor
nal in Gulf and South Central States
and above normal everywhere else; Sep
everywhere; october. 2 to 10 degrees
above normal in all sections. From this
list it is seen that the South has kept
above normal for the year in the face Of
some abnormally cold weather last
Spring. The Canadian border States
actually never have cone below normal.
Good Year for Crops.
On the whole it has been an excep-
ports show. There was enough rain to
keep the top soil moist, although there
was very little replenishment of the
subsoil water depleted by the 1880
drought. Now. however. another drought
seems to have hit the Gulf States, the
Atlantic Coast and parts Of the Central
West. For September and october
rainfall: South Carolina, "a per cent:
Virginia, 81 per cent, and Texas, SO per
cent.
Circumscribed areas in these States
are hit verse than the State records
show. Some Weather Bureau stations
in South Carolina reported only 10 per
cent normal rainfall for October and
several others reported only Is per
cent normal.
From the Virginia line the rainfall
deficiency extends northward to New
York and New England, which are run
ming about rs per cent under normal
The East Central States have had a
somewhat wetter year than usual
| Western Kansas is hit by bad drought
1t is injuring the Winter wheat, the
only noteworthy damage to agriculture
yet reported. Late truck crops in the
South also are suffering to some ex-
tent, and the late pastures are turning
| brown
The real cause for concern, Mr.. Kin
Ger says, is that the very slender water
resources Of the subsoil are being ex-
hausted instead of replenished, as the
farmers had hoped. This means that
the moisture for next Springs crops
| must again come from the SHOWS and
rains this Winter.