8 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



stations, principally in the western part of the State. The greatest 

 amount in any twenty-four hours, 1.32 inches, occurred at Ames, Story 

 County, on the 26th. Measurable precipitation occurred on an average 

 of one day. 



Snow fell at eight scattered stations during the month but at no sta- 

 tion was there an appreciable amount. 



Sunshine and Cloudiness. — The average number of clear days was 

 23; partly cloudy, 6; cloudy, 2. The duration of sunshine was much 

 above the normal, the percentage of the possible amount being 86 at 

 Charles City; 82 at Davenport; 78 at Des Moines; 84 at Dubuque; 78 at 

 Keokuk, and 65 at Sioux City. 



Wind. — Southwest winds prevailed. The highest velocity reported 

 was 52 miles per hour from the Northwest at Sioux City, Woodbury 

 County, on the 6th. 



Thunderstorms. — Twenty-five co-operative stations reported thunder- 

 storms on the 26th; ten on the 18th; nine on the 25th; five on the 19th: 

 two on the 29th; and one on the 4th, 20th, 23d and 28th. 



Thunderstorms were quite general on the 18th and on the night of 

 the 25th and 26th. Thunder was also heard at scattered stations on the 

 4th, 20th, 23d, 28th and 29th. 



An aurora of unusual brilliancy was observed over the northern 

 counties on the 27th. 



APRIL. 



The first half of the month, like the whole of March, was dry and gen- 

 erally warm, but the latter half was very changeable and erratic; the tem- 

 perature fluctuating from one extreme to another and the precipitation 

 from rain to snow. 



The average mean temperature was 4.0° above the normal for April; 

 the excess occuring the first fifteen and the last three days. A cold spell 

 set in on the evening of the 14th, attended by moderate showers which 

 changed to snow on the 15th and continued over the larger part of the 

 State until the ISth; the minimum temperatures on the 16th, 17th, and 

 18th being from 3° to 12° below the freezing point in all districts and the 

 amounts of snowfall ranged from a trace in the southern to over five 

 inches at some of the stations in the northeastern counties. The freezing 

 temperatures seriously damaged the prospects of a fruit crop as apple, 

 cherry and other fruit trees were in full bloom in the northern part of the 

 State by the 10th of the month. The damage done, however, was small 

 as compared with the damage resulting from the freeze of the 23d and 

 24th, when the minimum temperatures were 10° to 12° below the freezing 

 point in the southern counties, fhe maximum temperature on the 23d was 

 below the freezing point in the northeastern counties and the minimum on 

 that date at many stations was lower than ever before recorded during the 

 last decade of April. Great damage resulted to such fruit, garden truck, 

 etc., as was not killed during the previous week. The ground froze hard 



