USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania in the olden time; being a collection of the memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 41
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347
Seasons and Climate.
SEASONS AND CLIMATE.
" I sing the varying seasons and their change."
IT is intended to include in the present chapter only such notable changes of the temperature in the extremes of heat and cold, as was matter of surprise or remark at the time of the occurrence, and therefore most likely to arrest our attention in the present day-as a wonder of the past !
As early as the year 1683, William Penn, in his letter to Lord North, of 24th 5th month, says-" The weather often changeth without notice, and is constant almost in its inconstancy !" Thus giving us, at a very slender acquaintance, the name of a coquettish clime !
An old-fashioned snow storm, such as we had lately on the 20th and 21st of February, 1829, is the best thing in our country to bring to recollection olden time, when our fathers browbeat larger snow- drifts than have encumbered our fields and roads since honesty and leather aprons were in vogue! It is cheering to see the towering bank, in a sunny morning, gemmed, like the crown of a monarch, with jewels that receive their splendour from the sun's rays, and reflect them back to ornament the cold white hillock which the clouds have bestowed upon us, to awaken recollections dear, and sensations as cutting as the winter. It tells you of log fires which cheered them in the wilderness, and warmed the pottage which gave them the very hue of health. In short, as said the Literary Cadet, " a snow-storm in its severest form is a mirror, to reflect back olden time, in all its colouring, to the present!" Nor is it less grateful as a winter scene, to behold the occasional magnificent effulgence of an ice-rain, embossing in crystal glory, as if by magic hands, the whole surface of the surrounding works of nature and art.
" For every shrub and every blade of grass, And every pointed thorn, seems wrought in glass ; In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show, While through the ice the crimson berries glow.
The spreading oak, the beech and towering pine, Glazed over, in the freezing ether shine- The frighted birds the rattling branches shun, That wave and glitter in the glowing sun."
It is probable that the winter of 1682, being the first which Penn saw here, must have been peculiarly mild, for he says he scarcely saw any ice at all, and in the next year, the winter of 1683, which he calls the severest before known, froze up for a few days our great river Delaware! He must certainly have been too favour-
348
Seasons and Climate.
ably impressed by wrong information, for often the river has con- tinued ice-bound for three months at a time. It was, however grateful intelligence to the colonists then, and must have been a most welcome incident, ill-sheltered as they were, to have such favour- able winters.
In his letter of August, 1683, to the Free Society of Traders, he thus speaks of the climate, to wit: "I have lived over the hottest and coldest seasons of the year that the oldest inhabitants remember. From the 24th of October to the beginning of December he found it like an English mild spring. From December to the beginning of March they had sharp frosts with a clear sky as in summer, and the air dry, cold and piercing. This cold is caused by the great lakes that are fed by the fountains of Canada. The air, already sweet and clear, rarely overcast, will refine as the woods are cleared off." Thus the reason of our former colder winters was then well understood. He has another shrewd remark :- " It is rare to want a north-wester; and whatever mists, fogs or vapours foul the heavens by easterly or southerly winds, in two hours time are blown away,-the one is followed by the other-a remedy that seems to have a peculiar providence in it. The winter before this (last) was mild. From March to June they enjoyed a sweet spring, with gentle showers and a fine sky. From June to August, which end eth the summer, they had extraordinary heats."
Thomas Makin's Latin description of Pennsylvania, thus describes our climate as he knew it down to the year 1729, to wit :
" Nay, oft so quick the change,-so great its pow'r- As summer's heat and winter in an hour!"
" Sometimes the ice so strong and firm, we know That loaded wagons on the river go !
But yet so temp'rate are some winters here, That in the streams no bars of ice appear !"
Professor Kalm, the Swedish traveller, who visited us in 1748-9, has left several facts descriptive of our climate, which he derived from the aged Swedes and by his own observation, to wit :
It snowed much more formerly in winter than in the time of 1748. The weather then was more constant and uniform, and when the cold set in it continued to the end of February or till March, old style ; after which it commonly began to grow warm. But in 1748, and thereabouts, it would be warm even the very next day after a severe cold-and sometimes the weather would change several times a day! Most of the old people told Mr. Kalm that spring came much later than formerly, and that it was much colder in the latter end of February and the whole month of May, than when they were young. Formerly the fields were as green and the air as warm about the end of February, as it was then in March or the be- ginning of April, old style. Their proverb then was "We have always grass at Easter."
349
Seasons and Climate.
The lessening of vapours by cultivation, &c., was supposed to have changed the seasons.
The winters, he understood, came sooner formerly than since. The first Mr. Norris used to say that the Delaware was usually covered with ice about the middle of November, old style, so that merchants always hurried their vessels for sea before that time. But about the year 1748 the river seldom froze over before the middle of December, old style.
An old Swede of ninety-one years of age, told him he thought he had never witnessed any winter so cold as that of the year 1697-8; at which time he had passed the Delaware at Christiana several times with his wagons loaded with hay. He did not agree to the idea of others, that the waters had generally diminished.
Isaac Norris' letter of the 8th of October, 1702, says, " We have had a snow, and now the north-west blows very hard. The cold is great, so that at the falling of the wind the river (at Philadelphia) was filled with ice." On the 10th, he adds, " there is a sign of a thaw, and he hopes vessels may yet get out."
The severity of the winter 1704-5, is thus expressed by Isaac Norris, Senr., to wit: " We have had the deepest snow this winter, that has been known by the longest English liver here. No travel- ling ; all avenues shut ; the post has not gone these six weeks; the river fast ; and the people bring loads over it as they did seven years ago-[as in 1697-8 aforementioned.] Many creatures are like to perish." Kalm says, " many stags, birds, and other animals died, and that the snow was nearly a yard deep."
Early ice was thus noticed the 23d of November, 1732, saying, it has been so very cold this week past, that our river is full of driv- ing ice, and no vessel can go up or down-a thing rarely happening so early. Many persons have violent colds.
The winter of 1740-1, a great snow. This winter was very se- vere during the continuance of " the great snow." It was in gene- ral more than three feet deep. The back settlers (says the Gazette) subsisted chiefly on the carcasses of the deer found dead, or lying around them. Great part of " the gangs" of horses and cows in the woods also died. Ten and twelve deer are found in the compass of a few acres, near to springs. The chief severity was in February .* Many deer came to the plantations, and fed on hay with the other creatures. Squirrels and birds were found frozen to death. By the 19th of March the river becomes quite open. . Old Mrs. Shoemaker, whom I knew, told me of her recollection of that severe winter, to the above effect. Her words were, that all the tops of the fences were so covered, that sleighs and sleds passed over them in every direction. James Logan's letter, of 1748, calls it " the hard winter
* It was in February of the year 1717, that the greatest recorded " snow-storm" of Massachusetts occurred; it being from ten to twenty feet deep-compelling mar y to go abroad on its frozen crust from their chamber windows.
30
350
Seasons and Climate.
of 1741,"-as a proverbial name, saying " it was one of remarkable severity-the most rigorous that has ever been known here." Kalm says it began the 10th of December, and continued to the 13th of March, old style, and that some of the stags which came then to the barns to eat with the cattle, became domesticated thereby.
The 1st of November, 1745, is recorded by John Smith, in his journal, as the cold day-the river having frozen over at Burlington, and many boys skating on the Schuylkill.
The 17th of March, 1760, Franklin's Gazette records " the great- est fall of snow ever known in Philadelphia since the settlement !" This is certainly saying much of such a snow so late in March ! [as marking the contrast the day I write this-on the 12th of March, 1829, it is mild and thundered several times!] The wind in the snow-storm was from north-east, and snow fell incessantly for eighteen hours. The minutes of Assembly show that the snow in some places gathered seven feet deep, and prevented the speaker and many members to get to town-so the house was adjourned.
The same winter another singular circumstance occurred-told to me by old Isaac Parish, to wit : The day he was married, the weather was so soft and open that the wedding guests had to walk on boards to the meeting to keep them out of the soft mire ; but that night the cold became so intense that the river Delaware froze up so firmly that his friend William Cooper, married at the same time with him- self, walked over to Jersey on the ice bridge on the next morning. No ice was previously in the river.
Mrs. Shoemaker, who died at the age of ninety-five, told me she had seen the deep snows of 1740 and '80; and from her recollec- tions she said the winter of 1780 was probably as deep as that of 1740, and withal was remarkably cold, so much so as to be called the hard winter of 1780.
The winter of 1784 was also long remembered for its severity and long continuance.
The 17th April, 1797, was a severe snow-storm-when it fell two feet deep-none like it occurred again, in April, till the north-east snow-storm of 12th April, 1841, when it fell fifteen or sixteen inches.
Mild Winters.
The following are instances of mild winters, occurring in the years 1790, 1802, 1810, 1824, and 1828, and here severally stated in their detail for the purpose of comparison, to wit :
Extract from A. H's. Diary, for 1789 and 1790.
12th mo., 1789 .- The weather moderate during the early part of this month. 25th, (Christmas,) a pleasant day-no ice in the Dela ware. Three light snows this month. Rain from the 28th to the 31st, but the weather moderate.
351
Seasons and Climate.
Ist mo. 1, 1790 .- A charming day-no ice in the river and no frost in the ground
2. This day as pleasant as yesterday-boys swam in the Dela- ware, and ships sail as in summer-flies common in houses.
12th. Cold-skating on the pavement this morning.
15th. Cold-snow on the ground this morning-continued snow- ing until 9, A. M .- wind N. E.
2d mo. 7 .- Navigation stopped for the first time this winter- morning cold, with a strong wind from south.
13th. Delaware river froze very hard-weather clear and cold -- wind N. W. by west.
16th. Delaware river broke up-weather foggy, very damp and warm, with a thaw-wind south-west-heavy rain at night, with thunder and lightning.
3d mo. 11 .- The deepest snow on the ground we have had this winter-some ice in the Delaware.
An ancient female Friend informed me she remembered a similar moderate winter sixty years ago, in which the Delaware was not frozen ; and that the ensuing summer was healthy and very plenti- ful, as were the years 1790, 1802 and 1810.
Extract from A. H's. Diary, for 1802.
1st mo. 12th .- Morning very cold-wind high, with flying clouds- this day the most like winter of any this season.
15th .- Remarkably pleasant, wind south south-west-no skating for the boys this winter-not one cake of ice in the Delaware, and even the ponds are not frozen hard enough to bear for two days together-prevalent winds south-west.
19th .- A very great white frost this morning.
2d mo. 5th .- And sixth of the week-by far the coldest morning this season-froze very hard last night-wind west and a very clear horizon.
6th .- Very cold-water froze in chambers first time this season- some ice about the pumps in the streets-Schuylkill froze over.
19th .- Weather moderate-a fine shad in our market this morn- ing-this is remarkable; but what is more so, I find recorded, 1st mo. 19th, 1793, the extreme temperature of the weather exceeds all winters I have known-this day and others preceding may be com- pared to part of April, as one day this week a shad was caught in the Delaware.
Extract from A. H's. Diary, for January, 1810.
Ist mo. 18th .- And fifth of the week-sun rose clear-a heavy white frost-wind south-soon clouded-wind south-west-some rain before noon, and some sunshine-cleared towards evening- wind shifted to north-west, with a heavy gale all night. Jack Frost
352
Seasons and Climate.
has opened his pipes to some purpose-many people seemed to think we should have no winter, but now it appears to have begun in earnest.
The season of 1824, has been called very mild.
The year 1828. This winter of 1827-28, is remarkable for its mildness-no snow, or frost, and the plough enabled to cut the fur- rows! mild rains every where instead of snows. The gazettes every where teem with notices of the unusual mild weather. Even boats, in January, are descending the Susquehanna, from as far as the Bald Eagle! Even as late as the 7th of February, it is stated from the Juniata that arks were still passing down that river, and that this is the first winter ever known that the river has continued clear of ice! On the 9th of February a shad, caught near Bombay hook, was bought in the Philadelphia market for the Mansion-house hotel. This, so far, has been the rainy winter.
The mildness of the winter prevented the usual storing of ice for the fish markets, &c .- a thing unprecedented. One person laid in his ice in one day in November. On the 13th and 14th of April, 1828, came a snow storm !- much snow-not cold.
An elderly gentleman remarks on this season, that " the winter of 1827-28, is past, and such a one precisely has never occurred during sixty years of my observations. There were two events differing from any mild winters I ever remember, viz .: so much absence of the sun-but one day in December clear all day-January 20th, and 21st, clear all day-February 9th, sun rose clear and continued so all day as mild as the month of May-12th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 19th, 22d, 23d-all these days were clear, the sun shining all day - in one or two days the sun made its appearance nearly all day, and a number of days one, two or three hours -- add these to the whole days and it would scarcely amount to seventeen days clear sun- this is one singular trait."
The winter of 1830-1, became just such another rainy winter- remarkable for its numerous mild rains.
The following are instances of Irregularity-to wit :
The 8th of May, 1803, was a remarkable day. It snowed so heavily as to make a wonderful breaking of the limbs of trees then in full leaf. The streets in the city were filled with broken limbs thereby-most strangely showing-"winter lingering in the lap of spring."
On the 13th and 14th of April, 1828, was a snow storm in which much snow fell, but not being cold, it soon after disappeared.
The winter of 1817 was remarkable for displaying some very vivid lightning in the month of January! No snow had fallen be- fore this occurrence. The day preceding it fell a little, but melted the same day. At night it grew warm and rained, accompanied by vivid lightning. During the same night it blew up quite cold, and
350
Seasons and Climate.
snowed about half an inch. Very cold weather immediately set in. The papers at Albany and New Hampshire spoke of vivid light- nings also on the night of the 17th of January. Good sleighing oc- curred at Philadelphia on the 23d of January.
On the 25th of October, 1823, was the dark day. There was great darkness at 9 o'clock, A. M., so as to make candlelight de. sirable. At Norristown they were obliged to use candles. The dark- ness at New York came on at about 11 o'clock, and compelled the printers to print by candlelight. It was stormy there at an earlier hour. At Philadelphia there was thunder and some rain. At Albany, at 8 A. M., same day. it snowed fast all day, forming a fall of twelve inches, but melted very fast. It thundered there at 12 and at 2 o'clock while snowing! The heavy snow broke the limbs of trees still in leaf, very much. At Newark it lightened and thun dered severely, and hailed, and was very dark. On the whole, it, was a widespread darkness for one and the same storm.
On the 11th of April, 1824, it thundered and lightened consider- ably for the first time this spring. Old people tell me they never used to see this occurrence until warm weather. But of late years it has occurred several times in the cold season, and sometimes in March. The Christmas days of 1824 and 1829 were remarkable for their coincidence of singular warmth. The thermometer in the shade at 7 o'clock, A. M., stood at 33º, and at 2 o'clock, P. M., at 63º-both days exactly alike, and on both periods having a gentle wind from the south-west.
There were in olden time two memorable " hot summers," so called, and referred to in many years afterwards-the years 1727 and 1734. I describe the latter from the gazette of the time, to w.it :
July, 1734 .- The weather has been so hot for a week past, as has not been known in the memory of man in this country, excepting the " hot summer" about seven years since. Many of the harvest people faint or fall into convulsions in the fields, and 'tis said in some places a multitude of birds were found dead. The names of five inhabitants dying of the heat are given. Subsequent papers confirm the extreme heat in the country, and the deaths thereby.
I ought to have mentioned too, that as early as the year 1699 Isaac Norris, Sen. [Vide Logan MSS.] speaks then of the " hottest harvest season he had ever before experienced. Several persons died in the field with the violence of the heat."
An elderly gentleman tells me that on the 1st of October, 1770, memorable as the then election day, was well remembered as a snowy day! From that time to this he has never witnessed it so early again Since then, he thinks the earliest snows have not fallen earlier than the 1st of November. The middle of November has been regarded as an early snow. Often he has seen "green Christmas,"-that is-no snow till after Christmas, at least not such as to lay on the earth.
The night of the 11th April, 1826, was remarkably cold. VOL. II .- 2 U 30.
354
Seasons and Climate.
froze so hard as to bear a wagon loaded with flour on a muddy road. Some snow on the ground at same time. On the 12th of April at sunrise the mercury stood at 24. Old people say they never saw it so cold at that season. One remembers a deeper snow on the 10th of April, about forty years ago, when he went abroad in a sled.
Comparison of time past and time present, derived from a Ther- mometrical Table of the years 1748 and '49, compared with the years 1823 to '26.
YEARS.
MONTHS.
1748.|1749. 1823. 1824. 1825.1826.
October,
640
580
59$0
64₴0
November,.
543
44}
48į
48
December, .
49
39₺
44ª
41}
January,
3310
41
39
40₺
February,
40
38를
39
March,
50
44
50₺
April,
62
58
584
May,.
75
66
67
June, .
81
74₫
74
781
July,
872
78₺
79
83₴
August,
85
78₺
75₺
79}
September,
80₴
69g
69
71}
I am indebted to the investigation and diligence of my friend Samuel Hazard, Esq., for sundry notices hereinafter given, respect- ing our'winters, from 1681 to the year 1800. Besides the surprise which some of the facts will excite, they may prove useful as data for comparison with years to come. Mr. Hazard's larger collection of facts 'on the same subject may be found in his published book, the Register.
Winters at and near Philadelphia, from 1681 to 1800.
1681 December 11. The river froze over that night. The Bristol ** factor, Roger Drew, arrived at Chester from England, with settlers for Pennsylvania, where they lay all winter.
1704. Snow fell one yard deep.
1714. February. Flowers seen in the woods.
1720. February 23. The river is now clear of ice. November 11. " My ink freezes, which obliges me to con- clude." Close of a merchant's letter, dated Philadelphia. December 20. Our river is full of ice, and the ship Prince of Orange, which is going with a flag of truce and Spanish prisoners to St. Augustine, is in great danger.
December 27. The river being now clear of ice vessels are falling down.
355
Seasons and Climate.
1721. December 19. No vessels arrived since our last, the river being full of ice.
December 26. do. do. do. locked up,
1722. January 2. River still locked up.
6. Vessels get up to New Castle.
9, 16, 22. River still locked up.
February 6. Vessels cleared and entered.
1723. January 1. Weather is yet very moderate, and our river open. 6. Weather is yet very moderate, and river free from ice.
December. Vessels enter and clear through the month.
1724. January 18. River very free from ice.
December 15. On Thursday last a violent storm of wind and rain ; tide overflowed the wharves. Two outward bound vessels returned for fear of ice, of which our river is very full. December 22. River full of ice.
29. Some driving ice, but not so as to prevent vessels going up or down.
1725. March 3. Snow fell near two feet deep last night and yes- terday, which has not been known for some years.
December 21. River is very full of ice, though several ves- sels came up with it; no arrivals or clearances mentioned till 18th July.
1727. March 30. Weather and floods prevented the legislature from meeting at the time to which they stood adjourned.
1728. January 23. We have had very hard weather here for nearly two weeks; so that it has frozen our river up to such a degree that people go over daily, and they have set up two booths on the ice about the middle of the river.
January 30. River still fast.
February 7. Some say the ice is driving near Bombay hook. River here still fast. No clearances mentioned till March 5. December 31. 36 vessels, besides small craft, frozen up at docks, viz. : large ships 14; snows 3; brigs 8; sloops 9; schrs. 2. 1730. January 20. We had here such a deep snow, the like not known these several years. River full of ice ; no vessels can pass. 1733. January 18. Great snow at Lewes; ice driven ashore by a north-east storm.
1734. January 1. River continues open, and weather very mode- rate ; winter hitherto as moderate as for many years past.
1736. January 6. River is fast and full of ice.
February 25. Two whales killed at Cape May.
1737. January 20. Weather very cold ; persons frozen to death ; a vessel below cannot come up on account of the ice.
1740. March 15. Ice broke up in the Delaware.
December 19. River unnavigable from this to 13th March.
'741. January 8. Our river has been fast some time, and we heard from Lewes that 'tis all ice towards the sea as far as the eye
356
Seasons and Climate.
can reach. Tuesday and Wednesday are thought to have been the coldest days for many years.
1741. March 5. The severity of the winter complained of through- out the country. Cattle dying for want of fodder ; many deer found dead in the woods, and some came tamely to the plantations and fed on hay with other creatures.
March 13. River navigable. The winter extremely long and severe.
April 19. We hear from Lancaster county, that during the great snow, which, in general, was more than three feet deep, the back inhabitants suffered much for want of bread ; that many families of new settlers had little else to subsist upon but the carcasses of deer they found dead, or dying, in the swamps or runs about their houses. The Indians fear a scarcity of deer and turkeys, &c.
1742. January 22. Comet visible for some time.
February and March. Entries and clearances-no mention of ice.
December. Entries and clearances-no mention of ice.
1748. January 26. A vessel ashore on Reedy island, cut through. with the ice-no entries or clearances-severe weather-a man frozen to death on a flat in Mantua creek.
1754. January 15. Our river is now, and has been for several days quite clear of ice.
1755. January 14. There is so much ice at present in the river, that our navigation is stopped.
January 21. Clearances from this date forward.
1756. January and February. Clearances through the month. March 18. On Friday night we had a violent N. E. snow- storm, which did considerable damage to the vessels at the wharves, and probably on the coast. This is the first men- tion of snow. Arrivals and clearances continue through the month. There is no intimation that the navigation was in- terrupted this winter.
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