Twenty- SECOND Annual Meeting. 49 



METEOROLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR 1889. 



PREPARED BY PROF. F. H. SNOW, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, FROM OBSERVA- 

 TIONS TAKEN AT LAWRENCE. 



The most notable meteorological features of the year 1889 were the remarkable 

 absence of extremes of heat and cold, resulting in a very mild winter and a very 

 cool summer; the abundant and well-distributed rainfall making this one of the 

 three wettest years on our twenty-two years' record; the phenomenally warm Decem- 

 ber, whose mean temperature was six and one-half degrees above that of November; 

 the low wind-velocity; the small amount of snow; and the unusual number of fogs, 

 averaging a little more than two per month. 



TEMPEEATUKE. 



Mean temperature of the year, 53.57°, which is .67° above the mean of the 21 

 preceding years. The highest temperature was 94°, on July 8, the lowest was 3.5° 

 below zero, on the 23d of February, giving a range of 97.5°. Mean at 7 a. m., 47.91° ; 

 at 2 P.M., 61.67; at 9 p.m., 52.35°. 



Mean temperature of the winter months, 34.22°, which is 5.48° above the average 

 winter temperature; of the spring, 55.11°, which is 1.46° above the average; of the 

 summer, 73.31°, which is 2.30° below the average; of the autumn, 51.66°, which is 

 1.90° below the average. 



The warmest month of the year was July, with mean temperature 76°; the warmest 

 week was July 16 to 22, mean 79.19°; the warmest day was July 7, mean 82.75°. The 

 mercury reached or exceeded 90° on only 6 days (34 below the average number), all 

 of which were in July. This is a most extraordinary deficiency of hot days, the 

 smallest number of such days in any preceding years of our record having been 20, 

 in 1877 and 1884. 



The coldest month was February, with mean temperature 27.56°; the coldest 

 week was February 17 to 23, mean temperature 13.56°; the coldest day was February 

 23, mean 5.50° above zero. The mercury fell below zero on only 4 days, all of which 

 were in February. 



The last hoar frost of spring was on May 3, the first hoar frost of autumn was 

 on September 27, giving an interval of 147 days, or nearly five months, entirely with- 

 out frost. This is eight days shorter than the average interval. 



The last severe frost of spring was on March 28, the first severe frost of autumn 

 was on October 27, giving an interval of 213 days, or exactly seven months, without 

 severe frost. The average interval is 198 days. No frosts during spring or autumn 

 caused damage to crops of grain and fruit, and for the first time in several years 

 there was an abundant crop of peaches. 



The entire rainfall, including melted snow, was 43.99 inches, which is 8.89 inches 

 above the annual average. Either rain or snow, or both, in measurable quantities, 

 fell on eighty-one days — twenty-one less than the average. On eleven other days 

 rain or snow fell in quantity too small for measurement. The rain of the night of 

 the 12th of August measured 5.68 inches, which surpasses any previous single rain- 

 fall on our record, the next to it being the 4 inches of June 13, 1876. 



The number of thunder showers was 35. There were five light hail storms dur- 

 ing the year — one in January, three in May, and one in June. 



