Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-22
TREND OF WEATHER
IS WARM AND DRY
But MiIdnesS of Winter Here
Is Far Less Than in
1s99-90.

It's getting warmer this Winter
and dryer-but so far no startling
records have been broken, according Il
j. B. Kidcer, statistical expert OF the
Weather Bureau.
Mr.. Kincer has at his finger tip'
every weather record ever hung up IN
Washington, and whenever an aspiring
reporter comes to him with q sugges,
ton that some new record OF one Sor1
or another Is in the ofhng. he promptly
pulls out a deskful of data to show
that something worse or better in the
way of weather has occurred before.
AS for this mild Winter We are hav-
ing this year, for instance, Mr.. Kincel
quickly spiked record-suggestine
rumor with indisputable figures show
ing that unless sweltering tropical
weather prevails here the remainder
of this month. the mild-Winter record
Of 18S9-90 will stand
"A Degrees in I889-9O.
Back in 1889 and $780," Mr.. Kincer
pointed out yesterday. the average
daily temperature for the whole Winter
period, which covers December, jan
uary and February, was more than A
degrees. The temperatures so far this
Winter have averaged under 40 de-
Rrees."
ular notion that we are having a mild
Winter, however. The average daily
temperature in December was 1871 de-
greeS, which was almost a degree under
normal, he said, but January and Feb
ruary have been nearly degrees
above normal. The average daily tenn
perature in January was 81 degrees
and the average so far this month has
been about 40 degrees.
IT.
on December TO- when a 55-degree
temperature sent the mercury IL points
above normal; January 81, when "a
degrees was 10 degrees above normal,
and February 10, when So degrees rep
resented IL above normal
December had been above normal in
temperature for three years in the
past, the records disclose In 1929 the
daily average temperature was 1914, in
1928 it was 1877 and in 1927 it was 3e.l.
January of this year was the warmeSt
since 1916. although 1923 was featured
by January almost as warm as the
month just passed.
The coolest day this Winter didn't
occur this Winter at all. in reality. It
happened in November, which is the
last month of Autumn, under Weather
Bureau calculations. On November 20
the thermometer registered IA degrees
above zero. The coolest day in Deem
Der was on the 18th, when Is degrees
was recorded. The coolest day last
month was January 16. with 16 de-
grees, and the coolest this month, to
date, was February II. with 81 degrees
While on the subject of frigidity
Mr.. Kincer recalled that the lowest
temperature ever reached in Washing
ton was IS degrees below zero, on
February IL 1899
Big Snow Deficiency.
The present Winter has been marked
by snow deficiency of about IS inches,
the statiStician said The only meas
urable snowfall this Winter occurred
on December II, when inches was
noted. The average total snowfall in
December Is inches There was but
Q trace OF snow in January, when 8
inches usually falls. and none has
fallen this month, although there
usually is 7 inches by this time.
Moreover, rainfall has failed to COM
pensate for the snow deficiency. In
December the total precipitation was
2.04 inches. whereas the normal is 1892
inches. In January only 156 inches
fell. as compared with a normal 355
inches, and this month 1.28 inches
have been measured, when normal
rainfall would have been 248 inches.
The entire rainfall in 1880 was 81
per cent Of normal In this section, and
since the FIRST of this year the precipita-
ton has been only Al per cent of
normal.
The mild conditions are general
throughout the country. except for the
New England section, Mr.. Kincer stated
Out in the Northwest the warm weather
Is breaking State records, while in the
-
States the Winter has been q bitter
one.