Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1912 — Local Cold Weather Records During Past Thirty-Two Years. [ARTICLE]

Local Cold Weather Records During Past Thirty-Two Years.

' The Republican expressed the belief a few days, ago that The Hammond Times was in error in claiming that the recent cold snap was the coldest in forty-five years. Webased our opinion on our own recollection, which does not date back that far by' a good many years and were confident that within the past 25 or 30 years the temperature has been as low as 22 below, which was claimed as the " official . temperature in the Lake region Saturday night We are pleased to be able to publish an authentic weather record compiled from records by George O. Pumphrey and which substantiates our statement The following table will make a very interesting study: Ilin.

Jan. 2, 1879, at 6:30 a. m. ......—2l -Jan. 3, 1879, at 6:30 a. m. ..... —26 Jan. 4, 1870, at 6:30 a. m. .....—26 Jan. 5, 1879 at 6:30 a. m. ....... —24 Dec. 29, 1880, at 6:30 a. m —2l Jan. 9, 1883, at 6:30 a. m —lB Jan. 22, 1883, at 6:30 a. m —2O Jan. 19, 1885, at 6130 a. m. . —lB Dec. 18, 1884, at 10:30 a. m. ...—32 Jan. 20, 1885, at 6:30 a. m. ... —20 Jan. 22, 1885, at 6:30 a. m. .... —36 Jan. 28, 1885, at 6:30 a- m —32 Feb. 10, 1885, at 10:30 a. m —24 Feb." 13, 1885, at 6:30 a. m. —32 Feb. 18, 1885, at 6:30 a. m —22 Feb. 10, 1885, at 6:30. a. m —24 Meh. 20, 1885, at 4:30 a. m. ..... 5 Dec. 20, 1885, at 6:30 a. m —24 Aug. 12, 1881, holds the record for intense heat, according to Mr. Pumphrey’s record. At 1 p. m. that day the therpaometor registered 109 in the shade. On Christmas day of the same year the lowest temperature went was 40 above zero. The night was cloudy throughout. On Jan. 14, 1883, the thermometer registered no lower than 34 above zero during the day. There was a frost at night but no ice. The cold weather was saving itself up for a return engagement, which struck this locality in May of the same year, when the mercury went down to 3 degrees below freezing and ice a quarter of an inch thick froze. The same thing occurred on May 15th and 16th, 1882, where there was heavy frost and quarter inch ice. Mr. Pumphrey’s note book shows that for twenty years prior to Feb. 20, 1885, the thermometer never registered higher than 8 degrees above zeto except during the center of the day and then only from 5 to 8 hours at a time. During many of those cold winters snow came about the middle of December and remained with us until about the Ist or 10th of March. It often drifted from 5 to 8 feet high on open ground. A great many farmers in Jasper and Newton counties lived on the open prairie and underwent many hardships, and disadvantages. Coal could not be procured then as now and wood often had to be hauled from long distances. The country was not so thickly settled up and there'was no rural mail routes, no dally papers for the farmer and no telephones. There was no water-works system in Rensselaer either and consequently no water pipes to - freeze and no plumbers’ bills to pay. There were cob,pipes, however, and the isolated farmer took good care that these never froze up. Mr. Pumphrey did not supply us with a record of* cold spells during the years intervening between 1885 and the present time. Probably there were a number of occasions-when the temperature went to 18 or lower. The papers of the present time seem prone to claim that each spell of bad weather is the worst that ever happened. Only Friday morning the Indianapolis Star with big headlines told of a distastrous snow storm the night previously in that city. It pronounced the storm the worst in years. The writer of this comment reached the capital city the morning in question and found that the storm had been little more than an ordinary storm. Probably from 4 to 6 inches of snow had fallen and drifted in places from 15 to 18 inches. Traffic had suffered but little.