History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 91

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I > Part 91

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Of the meteorology of Ohio prior to the beginning of the present century the record is mostly traditional and vague. Writing from the best information he could get, Mr. Atwater gives the following account of a series of winters: 1785 to 1790 mild; 1791 and 1792 severe; 1793 to 1795 mild; 1796 to 1800 severe. In 1796 the Ohio River was frozen over in November, and a winter followed which was remembered for more than forty years afterward as the severest known in the history of the State. The mercury sank to eighteen degrees below zero on January 8, 1797, and dropped several additional times below the zero point in the course of the season. The Ohio River remained frozen over for four weeks in suecession, and frost occurred as late in the following spring as May 24.1

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According to Atwater, the winters from 1801 to 1807, inclusive, were all mild, but tradition speaks of February 13, 1807, as a cold Friday which no one could forget who experienced its rigor. On June 16, 1806, a total eclipse of the sun, visible all over this and the European continents, took place at midday. Twice only within the recorded history of the United States - November 30, 1834, and August 7, 1869 - has such a phenomenon occurred which at all approached this one in grandeur. At thirtyseven minutes and thirty seconds past eleven o'clock the sun's surface was wholly obscured, and the darkness of night super- vened. As the day was unclouded, this transition from the glare of a summer noon to midnight obscurity was the more impressive. Cooper, the novelist, who was an observer of the event, mentions these incidents:

Swallows were dimly seen dropping into the chimneys, the martins returned to their little boxes, the pigeons flew home to their dovecots, and through the open door of a small barn we saw the fowls going to roost. . .. A few cows, believing that night had overtaken them, were coming home from the wild, open pastures, the dew was falling perceptibly, and the thermometer must have fallen many degrees from the great heat of the morning.

The duration of the total obscuration was about five minutes.

Hon. Christian Heyl thus describes the tremors of an earthquake which he says was felt at Columbus in 1810:

The first shock was in the night season. It shook my bed so that I at first thought that some person was shaking it. The dogs and fowls made a dreadful noise about it. I got up and looked out of the window, but could see nothing wrong. The rest of my family slept below in the cabin, and felt nothing of it. On the next day, however, about ten or eleven o'clock, we had another shock. There was no wind, yet we could see the treetops swaying, and articles hanging up in the house were swinging back and forth.º

In 1811 a notable earthquake took place, the oscillatory center of which was about thirty miles south of New Madrid, in Missouri. The first shock took place during the night of December 16, and was followed by intermittent vibrations, which continued until the following February. Some of the tremors were felt as far east as Pittsburgh, and even along the shores of the Atlantic. These, if we may presume an erroneous ascription of date, may account for the phenomena described by Mr. Heyl. At the time the shocks of 1811 began, a comet had for some time been visible in the heavens.

As to the early summer of 1814 we find the following hints in the Freeman's Chronicle (Franklinton) of June 10:

Scarcely one clondless day has been seen in this part of the country during the last six or eight weeks. Vegetation has been much retarded, and in some instances destroyed, in consequence of the late excessive and incessant rains. The waters have been extremely high, and the roads, in some places, im passable.

On September 23, 1815, a terrific and ever-memorable gale swept over New England, but the writer has been unable to find any account of contemporary storms west of the Alleghanies.

The year 1816 was commonly referred to for nearly a generation as one "with- out a summer." In 1850 the following account of it was given in the Rochester (N. Y.) American :

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January was mild, so much so as to render fires almost needless in sitting rooms. December, the month immediately preceding this, was very cold. February, except a few days, was as mild as January had been. The first half of March was cold and boisterous, the second half mild. A tremendous freshet on the Ohio and Kentucky rivers caused great loss of property. April began warm, but grew colder as the month advanced, and ended with snow and ice. In May, buds and fruit trees were frozen, ice formed half an inch thick, and the fields were again and again replanted until the planting season had passed. June was the coldest ever known in this latitude. Frost, ice and snow were common. Fruit was nearly all destroyed. Almost every green herb was killed. Snow fell to the depth of ten inches in Vermont, several inches in Maine, and three inches in the interior of New York. It also fell in Massachusetts. July was accompanied by frost, and ice as thick as common windowglass was formed throughout New England, New York. and some portions of Pennsylvania. The Indian corn was nearly all killed. August was more cheerless, if possible, than the [other] summer months had been. Ice balf an inch thick was formed, and Indian corn was so frozen tbat the greater part of it was cut down and dried for fodder. Almost every green thing was destroyed, both in this country and in Europe. .. . Farmers supplied themselves from the corn produced in 1815 for seed in the spring of 1817. It sold at from four to five dollars a bushel. September supplied about two weeks of the mildest weather of the season, but its latter balf was so cold and frosty that ice was formed half an inch thick. In October frost and ice were common. November was cold and blustering. Snow fell during that month suf- ficiently to make sleighing. December was mild and comfortable. The remainder of the winter was mild.

During the season of 1816 very little vegetation matured. Throughout the summer the sun's rays seemed to be destitute of their usual power, and all nature assumed a somber aspect.

Atwater describes the winters of 1808 and 1809 as severe, and thus classifies those which followed, down to the time he wrote :. 1810 to 1812 mild ; 1813 cold - snow twentyfour inches deep at Fort Wayne; 1814 to 1828 mild; 1829 to 1831 cold ; 1832 to 1838 mild. According to the, same authority, heavy rains began to pour about November 14, 1822, " and continued almost daily until the first day of the ensuing June."

On May 18, 1825, a tornado swept across Licking, Knox, Carroll and Col- umbiana counties and passed eastward until it shattered its force against the western breasts of the Alleghanies. " Across Licking and Knox counties its width was scarcely one mile, but where it moved it prostrated every forest tree, or stripped it of its limbs."3 The autumn of this year was characterized by unusual mildness. In October the temperature of June prevailed, rosetrees bloomed, and vegetation generally seemed to take on a second growth.

The first half of January, 1826, was very cold ; on the seventeenth the mercury dropped four degrees below zero. In March, floods took place which caused serious damage in Franklin and adjoining counties.

The spring of 1827 was cold and backward. " In the winter of 1827-8," says Atwater, " we had the southwest current of air all winter. It came loaded with water, which fell in torrents during that winter, and on the eighth of January there was the greatest freshet which we had had for years before. On the Scioto we had no ice that winter more than threecights of an inch in thickness. "4

The winter of 1827-8 was open, wet and boisterous. The rain poured down in sheets, inundating the flatland, and swelling even small brooks to impassable

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proportions. Not ice enough was frozen in the Scioto Valley, it was stated, to cool a glass of soda. The weather in February, 1829, was severely cold, and throughout the month of March the temperature of January prevailed. When spring opened, vegetation was two weeks behindhand.

February, 1830, opened with extreme cold, relieved by a heavy snowfall which produced fine sleighing. In the autumn of this year a severe drought prevailed, injuring the corn, making dusty roads and causing streams and wells to go dry.

In 1831 February again began very cold, the mercury dropping ten degrees below zero. On August 10 of this year Mr. Isaac Appleton Jewett wrote from Columbus to his friend, Samuel Appleton, of Boston :

Torrents of rain have been pouring down upon us the entire summer. Deucalion's age would have been a dry time to this. The heavens are hung with black for weeks. Indeed, I may say with truth, we have not had a clear day this summer.

A partial eclipse of the sun took place February 12, beginning at thirteen minutes past ten A. M, according to William Lusk's almanac.

In January, 1832, the temperature went down to ten degrees below zero. It had previously, during the same season, gone down to eight degrees below. June of this year was a cold month, unfavorable to agriculture. A " weekly meteorologi- cal diary " began to be kept about this time, and reported to the press by H. Wil- cox, of the " Columbus High School for Young Ladies." Mr. Wilcox made notes of the wind, temperature and general state of the weather for each day of the month.

In both a hygienic and a meteorologic sense the year 1833 is one of extraor- dinary interest. Besides being accompanied by the first notable cholera epidemic which ever prevailed in Central Ohio, it was distinguished by some of the most wonderful atmospheric phenomena ever witnessed on this continent.

The winter of 1832-3 was unusually mild. On February 22, 1833, Mr. Isaac A. Jewett wrote :5 " The winter still continues open and delightful. What a con- trast to the two preceding ! Never were there clearer skies nor milder breezes. The month of February has been one long May day. I will not say the birds bave made their appearance, but I have certainly seen the grass green in the fields." Nevertheless March opened with a slight snowfall, which was closely followed by some of the coldest weather of the season. During this cold interval, four inches of snow lay upon the ground, making excellent sleighing. April and the first half of May were uncommonly dry, but June was a month of copious and constant precipitation, cansing high water, and making the roads for a time almost impass- able.

But by far the most important meteorological event of the year 1833, and per- haps the most interesting one of the present century, was the magnificent exhibi- tion of falling meteors which took place on the morning of November 13, in that year. Never in the world's history was there a grander display of celestial pyro- technics than this. Beginning about midnight, it was visible all over the American Continent, and continued until submerged in the light of the rising sun. A citizen of Worthington, writing on November 13, 1833, thus describes it :

This morning, an hour before day, our sky presented a most singular display of luminous meteors. The appearance, I am informed, commenced at least as early as half past three

CLIMATE AND HYGIENE. I. 699

o'clock, though it was an hour later when I first saw it ; and it continued without intermission until the light of day rendered it invisible. A numberless multitude of shooting stars were constantly marking the cloudless sky with long trails of light. As seen from this place, they seemed to proceed from a point in the heavens a little west of Delta, in the constellation Leo. This observation was made at five o'clock. From this point they appeared to shoot with great velocity down the concave sky, losing themselves in the dark blue expanse, or disap- pearing in the faint and undefined mist that rested on the horizon. They were not generally visible in their course through a greater arc than twenty or twentyfive degrees, and those which seemed to approach nearest to the horizon first made their appearance not far above it; while those that commenced their course near the centre of radiation uniformly dis- appeared before they reached the misty part of the atmosphere. Each meteor in its course left a pale, phosphorescent train of light, which usually remained visible for some minutes. Occasionally one would seem to burst into flames, and burn with increased energy, illuminat- ing the face of terrestrial nature with a degree of brightness and splendor inferior only to sunshine. But this effect would be of merely momentary duration, for the substance of the meteor would be rapidly consumed. leaving a broad, luminous way which would perhaps remain distinctly visible for twenty minutes, while the wind or some other cause, would appear to waft it gently eastward, so modifying its form as to give it the irregular outline of a cloud. . . . A luminous spot, or ring, would frequently appear for a moment, near the point from which they seemed to emanate; which was unquestionably occasioned by a coincidence of the course of the meteor with the line of observation.

A Columbus observer wrote :

The weather was calm and mild ; numberless stars twinkled in the heaven ; while the middle region of the air was irradiated by myriads of those diminutive meteors usually denominated falling or shooting stars. These were of various sizes, some emitting little more light than the ordinary firefly, while others equaled the rocket in brilliancy, and presented an appearance nearly similar. One, in particular, which we had not the good fortune to behold, has been represented to us as visible for several minutes - our informant says not less than ten - and as exceeding in size and splendor anything of the kind ever witnessed by those who saw it. . .. This singular spectacle [the appearance of the meteors] commenced a little after twelve o'clock, and was at its height between four and five. ... They [the meteors] must have fallen at the rate of at least ten thousand per hour, presenting an appear. ance of a shower of fire extinguished in midair. They were seen in all quarters of the heavens at once, but seemed to be most numerous a few degrees south of east from the zenith .?

Arago computed that not less than 240,000 meteors were instantaneously visible above the horizon of Boston. For some time a very large one hung almost station- ary in the zenith above the Falls of Niagara, and emited in all directions its incessant flashes of light. The descent of the fiery shower over the dark, foam- ing cataract is described as an unparalleled spectacle. The movement of the meteors was for the most part noiseless, but sometimes a hissing sound was per- ceived, and the explosions of the fireballs, it was said, were accompanied in some instances by a report resembling the discharge of a cannon.

The effect of the display upon the minds of the ignorant and superstitions was very curious. In many districts nearly the entire population was paniestricken, and profoundly believed that the end of the world had come. Impromptu prayer meetings were held, and solemn preparations for instant departure from mundane scenes were circumstantially made. An old citizen who was at Granville at the time, informs the writer that instances of this kind occurred both there and at

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Columbus. In the Southern States the negro slaves were terrorized beyond con- trol. A planter who was awakened in the night by the distressed cries of his bondsmen says that when he went out to respond to their midnight beseechings, over one hundred of them "lay prostrate on the ground, some speechless and others uttering the bitterest moans, but with their hands raised imploring God to save the world and them."

The spring of 1834 opened very favorably but on April 26, a frost fell which destroyed the fruit, cut down the wheat and stripped the trees of their leaves. At the time of this visitation, ice was formed half an inch thick. This frost was gen- eral over Ohio, and prevailed also in several States east of the Alleghanies. The month of July next following was marked by extreme heat, the thermometer rang- ing in the nineties for several days in succession. An eclipse of the sun, total in South Carolina and Georgia, took place November 30.

The winter of 1834-5, although quite severe in the Eastern and Southern States, was in Ohio one of unusual mildness. Up to January 21, no snow had fallen at Columbus, and scarecly a day had passed on which outdoor labor could not be comfortably performed.

Of the seasons of 1836 little mention has been made in the current records, except that the month of March was one of excessive changeableness, illustrating, by weather as bad as their orthography, the following lines :

First it rained, and then it blew, And then it friz, and then it snew, And then there was a shower of rain, And then it friz and snew again.

The principal meteorological event of 1837 was a magificent aurora borealis which appeared in the heavens during the evening of November 14. Of its observation at Columbus, possibly prevented by cloudy weather, no record has been found, although witnessed at Hudson, Ohio, and at various other points from the Mississippi to the Atlantic seaboard. As seen at most localities, its duration was about threequarters of an hour ; at St. Louis it continued throughout the night. Professor Olmstead wrote of its appearance at New Haven :

About six o'clock, while the sky was yet thick with falling snow, all things suddenly appeared as if dyed in blood. The entire atmosphere, the surface of the earth, the trees, the tops of the houses, and, in short, the whole face of nature were tinged with the same scarlet hue. The alarm of fire was given, and the vigilant firemen were seen parading the streets in their ghostly uniform, which, assuming the general tint, seemed in singular keeping with the phenomenon. The light was most intense in the northwest and northeast. At short intervals it alternately increased and diminished in brightness until, at half past six, only a slight tinge of red remained in the sky.

Another writer gives the following description of it as seen at New York :

Innumerable bright arches shot up from the whole northern semicircle of the horizon, and from even farther south, all converging to the zenith with great rapidity. Their upper extremities were of the most brilliant scarlet, while below they were exceedingly white. At the formation of the corona the appearance of the columns below, which were very numerous and bright, resembled that of bright cotton of long fibre, drawn out at full length. The

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intermingled hues afforded each other a mutual strong relief, and exhibited the most dazzling contrastsever beheld. The stellar form was wonderfully perfect and regular. Toward the west there was a sector of more than twenty degrees of unmingled scarlet, superlatively beautiful.

The weather of January, 1838, was singularly mild, and that of the latter half of March warm, hazy and dry, causing the carly garden plants to bloom, and the bluebirds to appear at their usual springtime haunts. During June and July the midday temperature ranged in the eighties.

The sumner of 1839 was so cold as to be likened to that of 1816. A snowfall heavier than any of the preceding winter took place about March 1, and made sleighing for the first time during the winter or spring. Severe frosts fell during the nights of May 3 and 5.

March, 1840, set in with the warmth and gentleness of June; how it went out we are not informed. One hundred and fiftysix consecutive days next anterior to March 31, 1840, were thus classified : 63 fair, 34 rainy, 28 snowy, and 31 cloudy without precipitation.

March, 1841, was characterized by heavy snow and fierce cold. About the middle of the month, the northern stage came through from Sandusky to Colum- bus on runners. July was accompanied by excessive heat, but a low tempera- ture and drought prevailed in August. The first autumn frost fell October 1. During the latter part of October cold rains fell, and were followed by snow.

The winter of 1841-2 was one of phenomenal mildness. Snow fell scarcely at all during the entire winter until February 17, when it was precipitated to a depth of three inches. Very little ice was formed. January had the usual tent- perature of May. February was, for the most part, equally mild. March was ushered in with thunderstorms and greening fields. On one day during the latter part of the month, the temperature rose to eightythree in the shade. Most of the fruittrees were in bloom before April 1. In May the weather was so cool as to make fires necessary for household comfort. June was blessed with an abundance of rain. The weather conditions for the wheat harvest, which was one of great luxurance, were favorable. The midday temperature of July ranged in the nineties. On August 2 and 3 a frost fell, not at, but east and west of Columbus. In latitude 39 and south of it a severe drought prevailed in autumn. Snow fell November 16, and on November 22 the Scioto above the State dam was frozen firmly.

During the night of January 4, 1843, an earthquake tremor was felt at Cincinnati, and also, slightly, through Central Ohio. At Columbus it was per- ceptible but not violent. In Missouri it was severe, and in some portions of that State produced "sinkholes " which belched forth steam. On February 7, 1843, the temperature dropped to one degree below zero. The season had previously been mild and open. From the fourteenth to the eighteenth the sleighing, it was said, was the finest seen in Ohio for ten years. On the seventeenth a cold wave swept over the State, depressing the temperature in parts of Northern Ohio to twentytwo and twentyfive degrees below zero. March was a mouth of snow, violent winds, and low temperature approaching the zero point. Spring opened

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about five weeks later than it did the year before. Although the temperature rose as high as the ninety mark in May, there were nights in June when ice was frozen in many places. The wheat crop suffered from drought. In September some days of intense heat were followed by drenching rains and weather cool enough to make fires comfortable. During the latter part of October snow lay on the ground three inches deep.

The great comet of 1843 began to be visible at Columbus March 8, and first appeared as a luminous column rising in an oblique direction from the horizon. So brilliant was it, at its full development, as to be visible at midday, but by April 4 its recession left only the faintest trace of it perceptible. In the local news- papers of contemporary dates its splendors are described but vaguely, yet all accounts agree that it was one of the most magnificent celestial appearances of the century.

A table of weather observations taken by Thomas Kennedy, State Librarian, in the year 1844, shows the following mean temperatures for that year : January 30.53, February 36.58, March 43.61, April 64.58, May 65.51, June 70.50, July 74.73, August 71.79, September 65.92, October 49 40, November 12.93, December 34.95. Fifty days of the year were rainy, eightyfive cloudy and sixtyfive clear. Of the remainder, one hundred and fiftynine are described as partly cloudy.

The coldest weather of the winter of 1844-5, was experienced in February. Until the beginning of that month the season was so mild that the rivers were not closed, and violets are said to have bloomed. On May 5 and 7, 1845, sharp frosts were felt, and ice was formed. This freeze cut most of the young vegetation to the ground, and was followed by a drought. Further frosts fell during the latter part of May, and the cold dry weather continued into June.

The winter of 1845-6 was remarkable for its heavy precipitation of snow. During a single week in the latter part of February this precipitation covered the ground to the depth of two feet. An eclipse of the sun took place in April, 1846, but cloudy weather prevented its observation in Central Ohio. The following winter began so gently that Columbus bricklayers were yet at work in the open air as late as December 30.

The January flood of 1847 has been described in another chapter. High water again occurred in the following December, and seriously interfered with the transmission of the mails. Copious rains, accompanied by cool weather, occurred in the middle of August; frosts fell in the early part of September.

The most interesting meteorological event of 1848 was a beautiful aurora which appeared on the evening of November 17, and recalled, although it did not equal the splendors of its predecessor of November 14, 1837. A Columbus observer thus describes it .

As early as half-past six, columns of rosy light appeared south of east, also north of west, tending to a junction, but neither perpendicular to the horizon nor as yet parallel to each other. At intervals between them, white narrow bands and feathery clouds, sometime tipped with scarlet, were reared, while again, too numerous to be distinguished, they formed a sil- very arch some twenty degrees above the apparent horizon, its apex a little eastward of the north star, and its base forming the segment of nearly the sixth of a circle. At 8:20 this por-

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 91

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1202

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202