A REVIEW OF THE WEATHER AND CROP CONDITIONS OF 

 THE YEAR 1902— BY MONTHS. 



(From the Annual Summary of the Missouri Section, CHmate and Crop 

 Service of the U. S. Weather Bureau, A. E. Hackett, Director.) 



January. — Up to the 20th the month of January, 1902, was excep- 

 tionally mild and pleasant, the temperature averaging from 5 to over 10 

 degrees per day above the normal, but during the last decade the weather 

 was cold and stormy. A prominent feature of the month was the cold 

 wave which overspread the State on the 26th, causing a very rapid fall in 

 termperature, in some localities exceeding 40 degrees in 24 hours. The 

 mean temperature of the month for the State was 30.1 degrees, which is 

 practically normal. The highest local monthly means, 36.0 degrees, oc- 

 curred at Gayoso, and the lowest, 24.8 degrees, at Maryville. The highest 

 temperature recorded during the month was ^2 degrees, at Dean and Po- 

 tosi, on the 9th, and lowest, 32 degrees below zero, at Bethany, on the 27th. 

 The average number of days with minimum temperature below 32 degrees' 

 was 27. Over a few of the extreme southeastern counties, and also in a 

 few localities in the southwest section, the precipitation of the month, 

 practically all of which fell during the last twelve days, was slighty in 

 excess of the normal, but over a large portion of the State there was a 

 m.arked deficiency, many of the northern and western counties receiving 

 less than i inch. The average precipitation for the State was 1.23 inches, 

 or 0.81 inch below the normal. The greatest local monthly precipitation 

 was 6.31 inches, at Gayoso, and the least, .28 inch, at Sarcoxie. The snow- 

 fall of the month ranged from 10 to 14 inches over portions of the central 

 and northern sections, but over most of the southern counties it did not 

 exceed 2 inches. During the first 19 days of the month there was prac- 

 tically no precipitation, and, the ground being bare, wheat suffered to some 

 extent from both drouth and freezing, but as a rule the damage was not 

 great. In many of the western counties the condition of the crop was much 

 above the average. During the last ten days of the month frequent snows 

 afforded ample protection, except in portions of the southern sections, 

 where the precipitation was in the form of rain and sleet, which covered 

 the fields with a heavy coating of ice. Stock water continued very scarce 

 in places, and in some counties there was complaint of a scarcity of feed. 

 In the central and southern sections considerable plowing was done dur- 

 ing the fore part of the month. 



