Peter has his panties in a bunch because it’s been a warm winter in the USA. As though this was unheard of. It isn’t. We just don’t have a lot of data from when it has been hot before.

I vaguely remembered a story I’d seen about the area of the original colonies (somewhere like Pennsylvania or New York) that had a very hot winter one year. My “Google-Foo” wasn’t up to finding that same story again, but I did stumble on a different one. I don’t know if this is the same year, but it is definitely a different place. IIRC, the original one had been from the 1700’s

With that said, this page is interesting in its own right. It illustrates that a “Year Without A Winter” is not unheard of in the USA, even in as short a period as a couple of hundred years.

http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/wint77_78.html

Minnesota’s “Year Without a Winter”

1877-1878 The Winter of 1997-1998 will go down in history of one of the warmest ever. However, the Winter of 1877-1878 was definitely the mildest of the post-settlement era. State Climatologist, Jim Zandlo prepared the following summary of the 1877-1878 Winter in the aftermath of another mild Winter, 1986-1987. Responding to questions resulting from that modern-day temperate Winter, Jim’s investigation shows us that nothing is new under the sun!

It is worth noting that they are careful enough to say “of the post-settlement era”. They are well aware that prior to that time could well have been even warmer, as civilization is only a very recent thing and recorded history is nothing compared to geologic history.

Farmers near Minneapolis were plowing fields until late December 1878. But in spite of the general warmth, three days with subzero temperatures in early January 1878 froze the Mississippi River in Saint Paul so that it was closed for navigation until the 28th of February. After January 7 only three days through the remainder of the ‘cool’ season would experience single digit temperatures or lower. The “Monthly Weather Review” from February 1878 reported prairie fires in Minnesota, Dakota, and Kansas. In that same month active insects in Iowa, grasses sprouting in Dakota, and the ice cover in Duluth harbor broken up by heavy winds were all reported. The continuing warmth of March 1878 allowed the first boat arrival in Duluth on the 17th. From research done by naturalist Jim Gilbert, Lake Minnetonka ice is known to have gone out at the earliest date on record, March 11, some 35 days earlier than its median ice-out date of April 15.

I note that this report:

http://lakeminnetonka.patch.com/topics/Hennepin+County+Sheriff%2527s+Office

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Updated: Lake Minnetonka’s Official Ice Out Declared The Freshwater Society officially declared Lake Minnetonka completely free of ice as for March 21, 2012. Updated March 21, 2012 Editor’s Note: Information provided by the Freshwater Society The ice is out on Lake Minnetonka. The Freshwater Society, which…

Has it ten days later this year than in 1878.

The winter of 1877-78 while warmest of record at Minneapolis-St. Paul, was not a dry winter. The months of December 1877 through February 1878 saw 3.09 inches of precipitation. For comparison, the full record average for December through February is 2.71 inches.

[…]

Climate historian, Thomas St. Martin has painstakingly poured through thousands of pioneer era climate records, newspapers, journals, and other documents in his efforts to reconstruct the climate history of the Twin Cities. When Tom comes across a significant climatic event from that era, he prepares a special report to summarize his findings. Tom’s reconstruction of the Winter of 1877-1878 follows: The winter of 1877-1878 — the so-called winter without a winter — was one of the most extreme and anomalous events in Upper Midwest meteorological history. Average temperatures at the St. Paul Signal Corps station were far above winter normals: 34 F in December 1877 (with an overnight minimum temperature of 45 F on 22 December), 22 F in January 1878, 32 F in February 1878 and 45 F in March 1878. As these values suggest, springlike temperatures prevailed throughout much of the winter, provoking the 2 March 1878 edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press to comment that “….yesterday was the first day of spring, in theory, but in fact we have had the first days of spring nearly all winter….” Unseasonable warmth began in earnest in mid-December with two weeks of abnormally high temperatures, including readings in the 50’s F at the St. Paul station on 21-23 December. The 22 December 1877 edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that, as a result of this stretch of warm days (and nights), the “..bottom is said to be terribly out of roads in different localities….” (a condition no doubt similar to that experienced during March and April, the time of year when the area’s then unsurfaced and/or unimproved roads were normally disrupted by the annual spring “break-up”). The same edition, in a moment of editorial flippancy, quipped “….down with storm and sash and up with mosquito bars..” On 23 December, the Pioneer Press noted further that “…frogs and spotted snakes are now found hopping and crawling around marshes in the vicinity….” and, on Christmas Day 1877, reported that the Mississippi River at St. Paul was “…clear of ice..” News and editorial comments continued a similar theme throughout the winter: “two or three sleighs ventured to make their appearance on the streets yesterday, but the snow is altogether too thin and they looked lonesome…” (6 January 1878); “..a disposition of snow was observed yesterday morning, but the commendable attempt was soon frustrated by the June temperatures…” (15 February 1878); “….notwithstanding the patient and persistent snowfall of yesterday. sliding vehicles were not out in heavy force and the sleighing was not worth bragging about…” (17 February 1878); “….sleighing is played out again…” (18 February 1878); “…river ice begins to look porous..robins have made their appearance and are hopping about on farms near the city…if the robin only knew it, he made a bad blunder in leaving Minnesota this winter…” (20 February 1878); “…young blades of grass are showing up above ground…” (28 February 1878); and “….the winter of 1877-78 is gone…we’ll ne’er see the likes again…not what might be called a cold day from first to last…” (1 March 1878). Nor were newspaper commentaries limited to conditions observed in the St. Paul area. The 10 February 1878 edition of the Pioneer Press included a report from Bismarck, Dakota Territory stating “….that cavalrymen of Miles’ command left Koegh in shirtsleeves…”; that roads in that area were “disagreeably dusty” and that the “…ice harvest [presumably referring to the Missouri river] is nearly a failure…” And, on 2 March 1878, Elder Ely, a Pioneer Press correspondent from Winona, gave a detailed account of his area’s experiences during the winter of 1877-78. Among other things, he noted “…it has now been said for the thousandth time that this has been a strange winter…such a one has never been seen by the oldest inhabitant….no snow to speak of…not a single vehicle of any kind seen on runners in Winona during the entire winter…for the last sixty days, the surface of the ground has been dry and dusty at least one half of the time….honey bees came out of their hives to work…the last day of winter was as mild as May….buds on the maple trees are beginning to swell….” Ely also noted that the demand for winter clothing was low and the fuel bills were “cut in half”. He also reported that there was “open water for steamboats until the 10th of January” and that “…river ice which is normally 20 to 24 inches thick was only 12 inches thick and lasted for only a month…” […]

Interestingly, the March 1878 record clearly indicates that NO snow fell during that month, thereby making it one of only two snowless Marches in the entire St. Paul record (with the other recorded by Smithsonian observer A. B. Paterson in 1860).

[…]

The winter of 1877-78 followed an autumn that, despite an unusually warm September (64 F), produced generally normal temperatures (47 F in October and 33 F in November 1877). The summer of 1877 included a cool June (64 F) and a warm July and August (both with average temperatures of 73 F). May 1877 was warm (62 F), April was near normal (46 F), March was cold (24 F) and February 1877, like February 1878, was abnormally warm (32 F). Like the winter that preceded it, calendar year 1878 was generally warm. Although May 1878 was cool (55 F), most of the other months of the year were warm, especially July 1878 (75 F) and November 1878 (39 F). The annual average temperature was about 49 F, making 1878 one of the warmest years ever recorded at a St. Paul station. Precipitation during 1878 totaled about 23 inches, a value well below the long term St. Paul average of 28.3 inches.

I’m going to keep kicking around search terms for a little bit longer to see if I can surface another place / time. Others can try this too (hint! hint!) though the phrase “year without a winter” turns up a lot of 2012 as the propaganda machine has been busy.

I did find one hint of another ‘year without a winter’, but little detail. Normally I’d search it more too, but I’m trying to catch up some other posting topics, so I’m going to be a bit lazy on this one… for now.

http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/09321/1014030-258.stm

And considering that 1931-32, known as “the year without a winter,” was in the early stages of the drought that caused the Dust Bowl in the Midwest and spurred on the Great Depression, perhaps it’s not a record anyone should want.

Gee, just about 54 years apart… But I sure hope we don’t have a repeat of the drought of the dust bowl era.

What I remember of the “other one” was that folks were very surprised at the lack of snow and that temperatures mid winter were in the 70s type of range. “Like summer” I think they said. But that’s a vague memory for a page long long ago, from before I cared about the whole “Global Warming” fantasy. I found it fascinating, but not important enough (then) to record details or pointers. Oh Well…

I also note that the date of this warm winter just happens to be slightly earlier than the 1880 cut off of GIStemp. Whlie Hadley likes to use 1850. I’d often wondered about that. I guess now we know… GISS wouldn’t want to start a trend line on an uptick, would they…

Subscribe to feed