588 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 



ported more than nine inches. Harlan with over nine inches had but 

 four days with appreciable precipitation and Davenport with only 0.48 

 inch had appreciable precipitation on eleven days, Le Claire had nine 

 days with .01 inch, or more, and the total amount was only 0.33 inch. In 

 the area of the greatest precipitation some damage resulted to grain that 

 was still in shock and over much of the northern and eastern portions of 

 the State the lack of rainfall interfered with plowing and, in connection 

 with low humidity that prevailed, caused a large amount of corn to ripen 

 prematurely and burned pastures brown and cut short gardens and truck 

 crops. 



A large portion of the State was visited by hail storms which caused 

 much damage to crops. The first storm occurred on the 1st and affected 

 portions of Dubuque, Jackson, Delaware, Linn and Jones Counties. Light 

 hail fell over most of the counties mentioned but the severe hail was con- 

 fined to numerous patches. Dubuque reported one of the most severe 

 storms ever experienced but the greatest destruction to crops occurred in 

 an irregular strip from one-half to four miles wide and forty miles long 

 from the northwest corner of Delaware County southeastward. Hail 

 drifted to a depth of six inches and the total damage was nearly $500,000. 

 The most severe hail storm occurred on the 9th, and covered a large area 

 in the west-central portion, but the greatest damage occurred in Crawford, 

 Shelby, Audubon and Guthrie Counties. The principal damage was to 

 eorn but chickens and young pigs were reported killed by the score and 

 two cows were killed. Many thousand acres of corn were damaged in 

 varying degrees and in portions of the area whole sections were hailed 

 out so completely that not a single whole stalk of corn was left standing. 

 In Guthrie County fields were white with hail and ditches two feet deep 

 were completely filled. Four days after the storm there was sufficient 

 hail in ditches to make ice cream. The damage from this storm exceeded 

 $500,000. Another severe storm occurred on the 16th over much of the 

 same counties as on the 9th, but no reliable estimate could be made of 

 the damage done on account of the previous damage. 



Severe local wind squalls occurred in the vicinity of Mason City on the 

 18th and at Cedar Rapids on the 24th that caused considerable damage to 

 small buildings, broke telephone and telegraph wires, leveled corn fields 

 and knocked apples off. The heavy rains of the 30th caused washouts and 

 road traffic was interrupted for several days. 



Pressure. The mean pressure (reduced to sea level) for the State was 

 29.97 inches. The highest recorded was 30.21 inches, at Dubuque and 

 Davenport, on the 14th, and the lowest was 29.59 inches, at Dubuque, on 

 the 31st. The monthly range was 0.62 inch. 



Temperature. The mean temperature for the State, as shown by the 

 records of 100 stations, was 73.8°, or 2.0° higher than the normal. By 

 divisions, three tiers of counties to the division, the means were as fol- 

 lows: Northern, 72.9°, or 2.5° higher than the normal; Central, 74.0°, or 

 2.3° higher than the normal; Southern, 74.4, or 1.2° higher than the nor- 

 mal. The highest monthly mean was 76.8° at Thurman, and the- lowest 

 was 69.1° at Postville. The highest temperature recorded was 102°, at 

 Belmond, on the 17th and Clarinda on the 24th, and the lowest was 42°, at 

 Mason City, on the 8th. The temperature range for the State was 60°. 



