Part 18

The greatest temperature ranges recorded are in the interior of Siberia, where at Yakutsk they recorded a range of 181.4°.

The most remarkable changes recorded within twenty-four hours have been at Fort Maginnis, Mont., January 6, 1886, a fall of 56.40°; at Helena, Mont., January 6, 1886, a fall of 55° in sixteen hours; at Florence, Ariz., June 26, 1881, 65° rise. On the northern edge of the African desert the temperature of the air rose to 127.4°.

The lowest single temperature in the world was recorded at Werchojansk, Siberia, in January, 1885, when it was 90.4° below zero, while the average temperature for the month at the same place was 63.9° below zero.

Highest mean rainfall occurs in Sumatra, averaging about 130 inches; the rainfall of 493.2 inches per year occurs at Cherapunji, Assam, India, which is the largest in the world.

The lowest rainfall in the world occurs at Southeast California, West Arizona, and the valley of lower Colorado, where the rainfall averages less than 3 inches.

The most remarkable rainfall recorded in the United States for twenty-four hours occurred at Alexandria, La., June 15, 1886, when the rainfall reached the enormous amount of 21.4 inches. The most remarkable rainfall recorded in the world occurred at Purneah, Bengal, September 13, 1879, when the rainfall reached the unprecedented amount of 35 inches in twenty-four hours.

CLOUDBURSTS

On August 17, 1876, at Fort Sully, Dakota, occurred one of the heaviest cloudbursts ever known. The water moved out of the canyon on the opposite side of the Missouri in a solid bank three feet deep and 200 feet wide. There are many other remarkable cloudbursts recorded doing great injury, drowning and killing many people.

WIND VELOCITY

Among the most remarkable wind velocity records is that of Cape Lookout on October 17, 1879, when the wind blew at a rate of 138 miles an hour.

One of the worst cyclones ever recorded in North America was the flood, as it is usually termed, at Galveston, Tex. This storm began on the 1st day of September, 1900, and lasted until the 12th. It reached its maximum destructive force on the 8th. Six thousand lives were lost and $30,000,000 worth of property was destroyed.

Even worse than any of these was the one at Calcutta in 1864, followed by a storm wave over 16 feet high, causing a death-rate of 45,000 persons.

BLIZZARDS

The blizzard in Dakota of 1873 is one of the worst on record, but probably the most disastrous in the United States occurred in Montana, Dakota, and Texas on January 11, 1888. The loss of life exceeded 100 persons.

TORNADOES

The United States is more liable to tornadoes than any other part of the globe. In the United States over 3,000 people have been killed by tornadoes and thousands more have been injured. The greatest loss of lives recorded by tornadoes was at Adams City, Miss., on June 16, 1842, when 500 lives were lost.

The most remarkable hail storm was that of July 13, 1788, through France to Belgium, and did a property damage of over five million dollars.

There have been many destructive hailstorms in the United States. One on July 6, 1878, at central New York extended into parts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Stones fell recorded to measure 7 inches in diameter.

ROTARY MOTIONS OF STORMS

Benjamin Franklin has been given credit for the discovery that storms have a rotary motion, and that they move from west to east. This discovery was made in 1747.

Franklin did not positively prove these facts, and it remained for Redfield, Espy, Maury, Abbe to substantiate the truth of this statement.

THE FIRST UNITED STATES WEATHER BUREAU

The first United States Weather Bureau was established in 1870. General Albert J. Myer was the first chief of the United States Weather Bureau.

It is estimated that we are 250,000 miles from the moon.

At high altitudes, the cover of a kettle must be weighted down in order to boil an egg hard. This is to enable the pressure of steam to allow temperature high enough for boiling. In other words, it would be impossible to boil an egg in an open vessel at a high altitude.

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MEMORANDUM

Rain Tomorrow!