The First
Fifty Years of Recorded Weather History in Minnesota (1820-1869) –
A
Year-by-Year Narrative Account
by Charles Fisk*
The links below are year-by-year
descriptions of the major weather events, patterns, and trends experienced over
the settled areas of Minnesota for the fifty-year period 1820 through 1869,
inclusive. This is the first
half-century segment of one of the longest continuous climatic records of its
kind in the United States. The research
was originally donated in 1994 to the Minnesota Historical Society under the
title: "The First 50 Years of Continuous Recorded Weather
History in Minnesota (1820-1869)- A Narrative Chronology" (Minnesota
Historical Society Call: QC984.M6 F47 1994) and appears here in online form.
Information
from military and Smithsonian Observer meteorological registers, history texts,
and contemporary newspapers are
consolidated to describe the period's climatic events down to the sub-monthly
level.
Prior to
the Territorial period, which commenced in early 1849, the only official
meteorological observations of any consequence were made by the military in the
Fort Snelling vicinity, a minor exception being observations at Lac Qui Parle
for a brief interval during the mid-1840's.
After Territorial status was achieved, a rapid increase of other weather
chroniclers, local newspaper editors and Smithsonian Institution volunteers,
began recording their impressions and observations. Not until the early 1870’s, though, a full half-century after the
initial Fort Snelling observations commenced, did the State’s first weather
bureau offices began operations.
For each
year, the presentation consists of detailed descriptions emphasizing spells and
extreme events. Monthly mean
temperature figures (Fort Snelling or St. Paul) are also cited to give a
general sense of the month's thermal character. These are not the originally reported statistics, but adjusted
ones, based on conversion of the 1820-69 fixed time scheme daily temperature
observations (e.g., 7AM, 2PM, and 9PM; or Sunrise, 9AM, 3PM, and 9PM) to
midnight-to-midnight maxima/minima approximations [Fisk, 1984].
Links are
also provided to graphs of the year’s maxima/minima estimates (along with those
of other parameters). Links to the complete set of MSP yearly graphs
(1820-present) can be found here. Local precipitation figures (rain-day counts
only prior to mid-1836) are also cited frequently, along with those from other
outstate areas when they are of a magnitude worthy of mention. The rainfall/rain-day statistics are
included as originally reported, reflecting the possibility of instrumentation
problems and/or failure to note a rainfall/snowfall event.
Background on Fort Snelling and its Meteorological Record-
The existence of a military-based
meteorological history, the commencement of which predate Minnesota civilized
settlement by nearly 30 years, was the result of three prior developments: 1)
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803, 2) a U. S. strategic plan of the 1810's to
establish a system of forts along its fringe, and 3) the need to understand the
climates at these selected outpost sites.
Such knowledge was considered critical to the chief medical officers of
the Army, as the potentially adverse effects of climate on soldiers' health had
to be assessed and prepared for [National Archives, 1981].
Fort Snelling was one of these planned
outposts, the military's presence here intended to secure the frontier from
British influence, capture fur-trading profits for the United States, and keep
the peace between the skirmishing Sioux and Chippewa Indians [Ziebarth &
Ominsky, 1970]. In 1818, the Surgeon General
of the United States issued an order for each Army post Surgeon to "keep a
diary of the weather .... noting everything of importance relating to the
medical topography of his station" [National Archives, 1981]. The initial observational format consisted
of thrice daily temperatures readings at 7AM, 2PM, and 9PM local time; a
"Weather" entry, usually a single word characterizing general
conditions for the day, wind direction, and a "Remarks" column,
denoting character and/or intensity of precipitation, force of the winds, and
other information of interest. Through
the April 1858 closing date (the Post reopened in 1861 as a Civil War training
facility), the hourly format would be changed several times. In 1836, the 7AM observation time was
replaced by an "A. M." time (most likely Sunrise); then, in 1843, an
explicitly stated "Sunrise" observation was adopted. In mid-1855,
however, the 7AM observation time was reinstated. The 2PM mid-afternoon observation was replaced by a 3PM one
beginning in 1843, but in mid-1855 a switch back to 2PM was made.
Events began to unfold in August 1819 when
the Fifth Infantry of the U. S. Army arrived by keelboat to a spot near the
present junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, preparatory to
construction of a large fortress atop an adjacent 100-foot bluff. The initial encampment (called
"Cantonment New Hope") was not on the bluff but in the bottomlands on
the right bank of the St. Peter's (Minnesota) river near the southeast end of
the present-day Mendota bridge [Ziebarth and Ominsky, 1970]. Weather observations commenced as early as
October, but for this month, as well as November and December, only the
original monthly mean temperature statistics survive. Continuous daily records start with January 1820.
DECADAL AND YEAR-BY-YEAR
NARRATIVE SUMMARIES
The 1820's - Cool First Half, Warmer Second with Closing Drought.
1820 - Cool, Sharp Seasonal Transitions.
1821 - Cold Winter & Spring, Uneven Summer Heat.
1822 - Late & Early Frosts, June Deluges, Early Arctic
Cold.
1823 - Temperature Extremes, Droughty Spells.
1824 - Cool Spring/Early Summer, Mild December.
1825 - Exceptionally Mild Winter/Early Spring.
1826 - Backward Spring with a Great Flood, Early Heat.
1827 - Mild Winter & Spring, Very Warm Late Summer.
1828 - A Trend to Drought after Mid-Year.
1829 - “The Dry Year”.
The 1830's - Warm and Dry First Half,
Colder and Wetter Second.
1830 - Continued Dry, Oppressive July, Abnormally Warm
October/November.
1831 - Dry with Late & Early Frosts, Bitter December.
1832 - Contrasting Winter Temperatures, Mild Spring &
Fall.
1833 - More Relative Warmth and Dryness.
1834 - Continued Mostly Warm, Wet Summer.
1835 - Unseasonably Cool After Mid-Year.
1836 - Backward Early Spring, Cool Late Summer & Fall.
1837 - Cool Spring & Early Summer, Wet Autumn.
1838 - Temperature Extremes, Wet Summer.
1839 - Warmest Year to Date.
The 1840's- Abnormal
Cold Lapses, “Open” Winters.
1840 - Warm and Dry First Half, Cool and Wetter Second.
1841 - Premature Spring Heat, Very Cold Early Autumn.
1842 - More Abnormal Cold Lapses.
1843 - Coldest Year in History.
1844 - High Waters in Spring, Late and Early Killing
Frosts.
1845 - Much Warmer.
1846 - Warmest Recorded Year of Nineteenth Century (tie
with 1878).
1847 - Much Cooler, Dry Winter & Fall.
1848 - Abnormally Cold after Mid-Summer.
1849 - Long Cold Winter, Heavy Spring & Summer Rains.
The 1850's - Cold
Winters, Occasionally Droughty Summers.
1850 - Heavy Winter Snows, Spring & Summer Floods.
1851 - Forward Spring, Unseasonably Prolonged Heat in
September.
1852 - Colder, Dry and Abbreviated Growing Season.
1853 - Drawn Out Winter, Wetter Growing Season.
1854 - Bitter January, Mild Spring & Fall, Hot Summer.
1855 - Heavy Winter Snows, Dry Growing Season.
1856 - Another Severe Winter, Dry Summer.
1857 - Deep Winter Snows, Backward Spring, Dry Mid-Summer.
1858 - Early Spring Breakup, Hot Early Summer.
1859 - Cool, June Floods.
The 1860's - Coldest
Decade in All History, Precipitation Extremes.
1860 - Early Spring Breakup, Favorable Growing Season.
1861 - Backward Spring with Floods, Cool Summer.
1862 - Severe Winter, More Spring Floods, Fall Drought Signs.
1863 - Drought, Summer Frosts.
1864 - Continued Drought.
1865 - Heavy Summer Rains Break the Drought.
1866 - Abnormal Spells and Deadly Storms.
1867 - A Year of “Freshets”.
1868 - Forward Spring, Sweltering July, Dismal Fall.
1869 - Torrential August and September Rains.
* Member, American Meteorological Society
Questions/Comments:
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