Report From Second District. 5J59 



assistant's report on observation for second district 



for 1S8G. 



By GEO. J. KELLOGG. Janesville. 



By request of N. N. Palmer, Esq., I give the following 

 report: 



First Climatic— The winter of 1885 and 1886 set in Decem- 

 ber 5th, '85, and during the month the thermometer was at< 

 zero and below seven days — December 7th being 13 below, 

 the coldest for December. Teams crossed the Mississippi at 

 Dubuque, December 17th, on the ice; from December 21st to 

 January 4th there were but two cloudless days, three days 

 heavy rains, frost all out and teams plowing — winter again 

 January 5th. The coldest day in January, 188G, January 

 23d, 28" below, while at Minneapolis it was 3fi° below 

 the 2'ld. There were four days the thermometer did not rise 

 to zero during the month, 10th, 11th, 22d, 23d; during 

 the month there were thirteen days at zero and below — 

 forty-five inches of snow fell during the month, with no 

 very heavy winds. February opened cold, 2d, 3d, and 4th, 

 the thermometer did not rise to zero, and the third it was 

 28° below the coldest for February; six days below during 

 the month — quite a thaw from the 8th to the loth, with 

 rain the lOth, Uth and 12th. During the month twenty 

 inches of snow; high winds prevailed from the 22d, and the 

 worst storm for the month was the 27th and 2Sth, 



March 2d at zero, the coldest for the month, the first week 

 very pleasant, second week snow nearly every day — the 

 17th robins, geese and bluebirds made their appearance — 

 and frogs the last of the month. From the 28th to the 31st 

 the heaviest fall of snow of snow for the winter, but it came 

 80 soft the inches could not be given, probably thirty inches 

 during the month. 



April 2d, 2° below zero, April 3d, 3° below; did not get at 

 spring work until the 0th; the loth brown thrushes put in 

 their appearance — ice May 7th, frost lUth and 25th; apple 

 blossoms commenced falling May 9Lh; heavy rains during 

 April and continuing till ^lay ISth, then till August IGth 

 three months the worst drouth for many years. 



