NINTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART I 9 
ship, Lee county, resulting in considerable loss of property and injuring 
five people. The storm moved from northwest to southeast and was 
attended by a typical funnel-shaped cloud which was observed for thirty 
minutes before the storm struck the town. The Methodist church and 
the colored Baptist church were wrecked and the homes of Ayres Han- 
cock and Grant Schroeder were blown over and demolished as were also 
several barns and out-buildings. The storm track is said to have been 
from 200 feet to half a mile wide and was followed by rain and some hail, 
but the precipitation was not heavy. No damage is reported to have been 
done, after the storm passed New Boston, but severe wind squalls were 
general over the southeastern part of Lee county, between 6:30 and 7:10 
P. M. The official in charge of the U. S. Weather Bureau at Keokuk re- 
ports as follows: "At this station there was only a heavy shower of rain 
with some hail and a short wind squall from the west at 7:10 P. M. of 
the 27th." 
APBIL. 
With the exception of the first three and the last four days of the 
month, the temperature was exceptionally uniform and moderately high. 
The month opened with a cool wave which spread over the State during 
the first three days, resulting in minimum temperatures ranging from 
11° to 18" over the northern district on the 2d; from 8° in west central to 
24° in the east central district on the 2d and from 14" to 24° in the 
southern district on the 2d and 3d. Prom the 3d to the 27th 
the minimum temperatures ranged from 30° to above 50° and the max- 
imums from 50° to above 90°, the warmest days being the 13th, 19th and 
22d. From the 27th to the close of the month the temperature was un- 
seasonably low and below freezing on one or more days in all parts of 
the State. 
The precipitation was generally below the normal, but there was an 
excess in a few localities, due to heavy local showers. The heaviest rain- 
fall was at Inwood, Lyon county, where a severe local storm occurred 
on the 23d, accompanied by destructive winds, heavy rain and some hail. 
The least rainfall was reported from the counties along the Missouri 
river from Monona southward where the monthly amounts were less than 
an inch. There were but three periods during the month in which the 
rainfall was general, viz.: 5th to 8th, 17th to 18th and 23d to 28th, and, 
as the average amount of sunshine was above the normal, the condi- 
tions were exceptionally favorable for work in the fields. The seeding 
of small grain was practically completed at the beginning of the third 
decade, and at the close of the month more than the usual amount of 
ground had been prepared for corn. Up to the 27th the prospects for a 
fruit crop were never better, but the frosts and freezing temperatures 
during the last three days of the month did considerable damage, espe- 
cially in southern counties. 
Temperature. — The monthly mean temperature for the State, as shown 
by the records of 118 stations, was 50.5°, which is 2.0° above the normal 
for Iowa. By sections the mean temperatures were as follows: Northern 
section, 48.4°, which is 1.6° above the normal; Central section 50.5°, which 
is 2.0° above the normal; Southern section, 52.5°, which is 2.2° above the 
