Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 November 1908 — GREAT DROUGHT OF 1908. [ARTICLE]

GREAT DROUGHT OF 1908.

Up to May, Inclusive, there was an average excess of precipitation in’l9oß as follows: ' * In the northern district, 4.64 inches; central dlstrict, 5.72 inches; southern district, 6.62 inches. January, with an average deficiency in the State of 1.25 inches, was the only month during which the excess was not general. The months with the greatest excess were: February, with an average of 2.84 inches more than normal, and May, with a similar average of 2.06 inches.

In June there was a deficiency of precipitation at every station in the state, with one exception, Farmland, Randolph county, where a total rainfall of 5.67 inches was reported, and at Princeton, Gibson county, no rain fell during the month after the 13th. Light showers occurred at intervals during the month, however, and, while the need of more rain was generally felt, no material damage resulted from the lack of it. Through July and the first decade of August local showers kept the average amount of rainfall for each district and the state at approximately the normal, but the value of the departures at the several stations in each district varied greatly, ranging during July in the northern district from 2.60 inches above normal, at Delphi to 1.68 inches below normal at Auburn; in the central district, from plus 3.37 inches at Connersville to minus 1.51 inches at Indianapolis, and in the southern district, from an excess of 1.42 inches at Vincennes to a deficiency of 2.37 inches at Mount Vernon. The last dates prior to the prolonged and damaging drought on which rain occured generally in the state were August 12 and 13. Dur-

ing these two days, to quote from the Weekly Weather Bulletin Of the Indiana section, dated August 18, 1908, “the southeastern counties of the central district received more than 1 inch of rain, and in a few of the northern and northeastern counties the rainfall exceeded 2 inches. Elsewhere the precipitation generally ranged from slightly more than 0.05 inch to nearly 1.00 Inch, except in the northern district on August 16 and 17, and in the southern district on August 17 and 18, light showers, in most cases less than. 0.50 inch occurred, and at Laporte on August 29, and locally in Henry and Rush counties on September 14, refreshing showers fell. With the e exceptions, the state was practically rainless from August 14 to September 27 inclusive, a period of fcrtyfive days. There probably was never another drought period of equal length, intensity and extent experienced in this state; certainly none during the period covered by the records of the Weather Bureau, which extends back to 1871. The nearest approaches to it were in 1893, 1897 and 1901. In 1893 the total rainfall at Indianapolis in July, August and September was 0.83 inch, 0.42 inch, and 0.79 inch respectively, and the average deficiencyin the state for the three months was 3.28 inches. In 1897 a drought prevailed during the last decade of July and through the first and second decades of August. It was general in the state but most severe in the southern counties, many localities in which received no rain during periods ranging from twenty to thirty-one days. The drought period of 1901 lasted from June 28 to about August 16. It was more severe in the southern district also, there being periods of from twenty to thirty days without rain in many localities, and at one place, Salem, Washington county, no rain fell from June 29 to August 16, inclusive. As stated before, however, no drought in this state, of which there is an available record, lasted as f long over so large an area as the one broken by general rains September 28, 1908.