Evening star., 1941-03-01
U.S.. Saves Big Sum
On Fuel in AbnormaIIy
Warm Winter
Weather Bureou Reports
Temperatures ; ora
Degrees Above Average
BY THOMAS r.. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r.. HENRY.
An abnormally warm winter
ended yesterday.
Despite q farewell two weeks of
abnormal cold and q last day of
snowfall, Weather Bureau records
show that the past three months
have been 8 or 4 degrees above
average In temperature for the
entire United States.
The Weather Bureau considers
December, January and February
as winter, regardless Of the cal
endar. Astronomical spring, Of
course, still Is three weeks away.
December was from to 7 degrees
above normal everywhere. January
piled up a surplus of from 2 to 7
degrees everywhere except New
England, New York and the Gulf
coast of Florida. February was 8
or 4 degrees above, except for the
final two weeks which went slightly
below for most of the continent.
The savings In coal and oil.
Weather Bureau forecasters esti-
mate, has been enormous. Farm
work is well ahead of schedule,
although somewhat delayed by very
heavy rains. The country as a
whole is going into the spring with
more moisture in the soil than
has been the case for decade.
AS early as February / plowing was
well under way in Texas and the
South Atlantic States, and only wet
fields prevented work in the Gulf
States.
California Rainfall Heavy.
The abnormally warm Pacific
Coast was deluged during January.
Stations in the Northern half OF
California reported more than twice
the expected rainfall.
This condition persisted generally
for the country as whole up to
the week of February 1S, when an
enormous mass of cold air from
the Arctic came down across the
Great Lakes and temperatures OF
from 90 to 80 below were reported
from Minnesota and Northeastern
North Dakota, The freezing line,
however. did extend further south
than Southern Arkansas and
Northern Texas. A feature, how
ever, was the high wind that raised
dust storms in New Mexico, Texas
and Oklahoma and did consider
able damage to winter wheat.
The last week of winter has been
characterized by continued cold
weather with the mean tempera-
lures ranging from to IA below
normal everywhere east of the
Rockies. These have had little
effect on the winter average, how
ever, because of the great excess
of heat piled up in the preceding
IL weeks.
The heavy rains continue. Farm
work is reported three weeks late
in Oklahoma because of flooded
fields. Winter crops are now max
ing little progress but, reports to
the Weather Bureau indicate, have
not been materially injured by the
cold of the past two weeks.
Snow Reported Light.
Nearly everywhere the winter has
been notable for the light blanket
of snow.
The season, says DR.. J. B. Kincer,
chief of the Weather Bureaus de-
partment of climatology, fits clearly
into the succession of warm winters
which have continued, with a few
Interruptions since 1920. He has just
completed a study of American
winters for the past century at four
stations where records were avail
able-Minneapolis, st. Louis, Wash
mgton and Boston.
All four have shown the same
general trends. From 1841 to 1875
the average was from 40 to degrees
below normal, with an occasional
year slightly above normal. From
1875 to 1920 the winter tempera-
lures were very close to normal year
after year Then they went up
again and there is little indication
of a swing back to average.
Minneapolis, the record shows,
had its coolest winter in 1875 with
an average for the three months of
10 degrees Subnormal. Two years
later it experienced its warmeSt
winter, running nearly IA degrees
above normal.
st. Louis Different.
St. Louis. on the other hand, ex-
perienced its worse winter In 1872
with an average of subnornal and
its warmest in 1881 when the aver
age was nearly II degrees in excess
Washington also had its warmest
winter in 193l-nearly 10 degrees
above normal-and its coldest in
1865, just at the end of the Civil
War, when the temperature for the
three months was about 750 degrees
subnormal. Boston's coolest winter
was in 1867 with a subnormal aver
age of degrees. It's warmest was
also in 1881 with an average surplus
of nearly 10 degrees.
These charts show, Mr.. Kincer
says, that while there are general
trends for the country they do not
hit the same peaks and depressions
for different areas at the same time
so that 1t is almost impossible to
predict for any particular place.