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REVIEW OF NEBRASKA
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Neither statement is correct. From the tables of the signal service, taken at Omaha and North Platte, and earlier by the Smithsonian observers (army officers) at Fort Kearney, the following facts have been ascertained:
     The mean temperature of the summer months--that is, of June, July and August--in Eastern Nebraska is between 72° and 74°, or more accurately, close to 73° Fahrenheit. At North Platte it averages slightly higher. The summer isotherm of 72° starts about one-third of the distance north of the south line of New Jersey, runs northwest till it strikes the Appalachians in Pennsylvania, then goes south and west, appearing again a little south of the east edge of the Ohio, and from there keeps a westerly direction till it strikes the Missouri River at Sioux City. From there it follows the Missouri around its big bend in Northeastern Nebraska and into Dakota Territory, until it reaches almost the 46th parallel. From this point it again moves a little south of west, passing through a small corner of Northwestern Nebraska. and thence on to Fort Laramie, and thence southward, mainly near to or along the foothills. until the loftier regions of Mexico are reached.
     The summer isotherm of 76° is almost parallel with the last passing through Northern Kansas, but not reaching the state line. Included between these two isotherms is a large part of Southern New Jersey, Southern Pennsylvania, the southern half of Ohio. the greater part of Indiana, Illinois, the southern half of Iowa, and the whole of Nebraska, except a very small patch in the northwestern part of the state. Nebraska. therefore, has a mean summer temperature considerably higher than states in the East in the same latitudes. There are some advantages in this high summer temperature. For example, some of the finest grapes only mature where the summer temperature is from 68° to 72°. Our fine soils and natural drainage, therefore, would be without avail were it not that these conditions are complemented by a high mean summer temperature.
      During the winter months, embracing December, January and February, the mean isocheimal, or line of mean equal temperature, includes the south half of the state, and the northeastern portion as far as 100 miles west of the Missouri. This line enters the state near its northwest corner, and then passing southeast, and then in an easterly direction near to the parallel of forty-two degrees and thirty minutes, until it reaches to within 100 miles of the Missouri. It then turns to the northwest until it strikes the mouth of the White Earth River. Thence it extends eastward. crossing Northern Iowa. Northwestern Illinois, thence northeast to Green Bay, and thence to the coast by way of the Straits of Mackinaw. From this it appears that all of Nebraska, except the small part north and west of the line just described, has an average temperature like Northern Illinois and Ohio. The portion north and west of the line described has a slightly lower mean winter temperature, if the Smithsonian data can be trusted. The number of observations, however on which this isocheimal line was based through Northern Nebraska were notoriously few and imperfect. My conviction is that more perfect data will assign the whole of Northern Nebraska to at least the isocheimal line of 20°.

     MEAN TEMPERATURE OF SPRING.--For the last ten years, the mean temperature of the spring months, March, April and May, was 47.8°. This determination is made from the tables of Dr. Childs, of Plattsmouth, who has for over twenty years been taking observations for the Smithsonian and for the Signal Service. The Nebraska Weather Service, now conducted by Prof. S. R. Thompson, has confirmed this determination. The highest temperature during these months reaches 90°, and the lowest, in March, 21°.

     AUTUMNS.--Nothing in Nebraska climatology is more remarkable than the long, mild, dry autumns. The average annual temperature for ten years for the entire three months is 49 5-6°. Excessive rains seldom fall during these months, and the autumns are therefore exceedingly mild and long. Occasionally there is a short rough spell in October, but almost universally it is followed by mild weather which is prolonged into December, and has been known to last till January. These long "Indian summers" are here, even more than elsewhere, characterized by a curious haze which mellows the light of the sun. It has the curious effect on "high-strung" nature of rousing the poetic sensibilities and giving the weired (sic) shadowy experiences of dreamland. It is a most favorable season for mental and physical toil. Existance (sic) now to a healthy body is a pleasure, and toil a delight.

     MEAN TEMPERATURE OF THE WHOLE YEAR.--Notwithstanding the extreme cold of a few days in winter, the mean temperature is very high. The mean yearly isotherm of 55 degrees which passes through Washington. D. C., Cincinnati and Southern Iowa, strikes the Missouri River a little south of Nebraska City, and then, moving a little north of west, crosses the Platte near Columbus, and thence in a northwesterly direction across the State. This mean annual isotherm, therefore embraces over one-half of the State. The mean yearly isotherm of 52 1/2 degrees which passes through Pittsburgh, Penn., crosses the center of Iowa diagonally, strikes Sioux City on the Missouri, thence, following the Missouri some distance, takes in the whole of Nebraska not including in the yearly isotherm of 55 degrees. The yearly isothem (sic) of 57 1/2 degrees passes south of Nebraska. A portion of Southern and Southwestern Nebraska is therefore included between the yearly isotherms of 57 1/2 degrees and 55 degrees, and the balance between 55 and 52 1/2 degrees.

     EXTREMES OF TEMPERATURE.--In Dr. Child's record of nineteen years. the mercury rose to 100 degrees and upward twenty-nine times, or an average to a little more than a day and a half a year. The hottest year was that of 1874, when the thermometer in July and


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