THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART I 



MONTHLY SUMMARIES 



JANUARY. 



January, 1912. was probably the coldest month ever experienced in 

 Iowa since its settlement. The monthly means for the larger part of the 

 state were lower than ever before recorded. Not only were the monthly 

 means the lowest on record, but the monthly minimum and maximum 

 temperatures were lower than shown by previous records at most sta- 

 tions, and the duration of the extremely cold period exceeded anything of 

 the kind in the history of the state. The longest record we have for a 

 station still in operation is for Dubuque, and the official in charge, Local 

 Office, U. S. Weather Bureau, at that place, says: "The record for mean 

 temperature dates back 61 years, and is complete, with the exception of 

 2 or 3 years. The monthly mean temperature for January, 1912, Is about 

 1.5° lower than ever before recorded at this station for any month. There 

 were 16 consecutive days with the lowest temperature below zero. The 

 average temperature for the first 12 days was 7.1° below zero. For the 

 8 days from the 5th to the 12th, inclusive, the average was 10.4° below 

 zero, and for the first 21 days the average was 2.1° below zero. There 

 were 21 days with the minimum of zero or below, or 2 more than ever be- 

 fore recorded during any one month. There were 6 days with the maximum 

 temperature below zero, or 2 more than ever before recorded in any one 

 year. On the 5th the temperature remained about 18° below zero during 

 the hours of daylight. It was 19° below zero at noon with full sunshine. 



A station was maintained at Monticello, Jones County, from 1854 to 190'6, 

 inclusive, and the lowest monthly mean temperature at that station dur- 

 ing that time was 4.6°, in January, 1862, which is 2.2° higher than the 

 mean for the past month at OMn, which is in the same county and about 

 18 miles south of Monticello. At Iowa City, we have a record since 1858, 

 and the mean for the past month (4°) is 3° lower than in January, 1883, 

 which is the lowest previous record. At Logan, in Harrison County, the 

 mean for the past month is 6,5°, which is 0.6° lower than ever before 

 recorded, and the records date back to 1867. The. lowest monthly mean 

 recorded at Myscatine, between 1839 and 1900, was 6,2° in January, 1857. 



The first 21 days of the month were extremely cold, and the daily min- 

 imum temperatures were below zero over the larger part of the state on the 

 first 16 days, and the maximum temperatures were also below zero on sev- 

 eral of those days. The coldest period was from the 5th to the 13th, The 

 last decade was considerably milder, but the minimum temperatures were 

 below zero on several of those dates over the northern half of the state. 



