Nevada County CA Archives History - Books .....Meteorolgy 1867
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Book Title: Bean’s History And Directory Of Nevada County, California

METEOROLOGY.

  The subject of my sketch, having every altitude from /a few feet to eight
thousand above the ocean level, must necessarily have a variety of climate. Near
the plains frost is rare, while at Meadow Lake scarcely a night passes without
leaving traces of frost in the morning.

  In the upper part of the county snow, if not Winter, reigns one-half the year;
while a snow fall at Rough and Ready and below is an uncommon occurrence. The
fall of snow is light over that portion of the surface of the county having an
altitude of 2,500 feet or less. At Nevada City, which has an elevation of about
2,350 feet, it rarely falls to the depth of two feet, and it seldom lies on the
ground more than two or three days. Sleighing about Nevada and Grass Valley is
not persisted in beyond a few hours, the ground never freezing so as to give a
sound base for the snow to rest on for that purpose. At Bear Valley, snow fell
during the Winter of 1858-59, twenty-four feet, by actual measurement, falling
on April 19th of that season eighteen feet deep. Further up, in the region of
Meadow Lake, the fall is heavier and the Winters more severe. But, the Winter in
any part of Nevada county is not so cold by far as in the same latitude on the
eastern side of the continent. This is due, to a large extent to the latent heat
set free by the condensation of the vapors on our mountains which come from the
South Pacific ocean. The sun, during our rainy season, pours down his ferved
rays upon the Southern hemisphere, which is largely of ocean, and an immense
amount of moisture is taken to the clouds which, borne along by the southeast
trade-winds till transferred to the southwest trades, are driven against the
Sierra Nevada chain of mountains. The cold of the elevated region condenses the
moisture into rain or snow, and the heat borrowed in a latent state in the South
Pacific is set free to ameliorate our Winter climate.

  From a few observations it would seem that some parts of the county are
subject to heavier falls of rain than other parts, and the rain fall of the
county is much heavier than in the valley regions of the State.

  I am indebted to James Whartenby, Esq., who has kept a rain-guage at the
office of the South Yuba Canal Company, in Nevada City, and, also, a
thermometrical register, during many years, for interesting facts. The
destructive fires that have so frequently visited Nevada, have consumed some of
the journals of Mr. Whartenby, but what have been spared will serve to give some
idea of the climatic changes experienced in the county/particularly in the
central part, that portion having an altitude of from two thousand to three
thousand feet. From these journals it appears that during the rainy season of
1861-62 the fall of water was 109 inches; 1862-63, 27.87 inches; 1863-64, 17.26
inches; 1864-65, 54.49 inches; 1865-66, 59.26 inches. That part of the rainy
season of 1866-67, ending on the 1st of January, 1867, was extraordinary, for
the amount of water fallen; 42.39 inches are reported at the office of the Canal
Company. Mr. Whartenby estimates the average rain fall since the settlement of
the county by Americans, at from fifty to fifty-five inches. The above figures
have been called in question heretofore as being too large, and it has been
supposed that the rain-guage kept at Nevada could not be correct. To settle the
question, Mr. Whartenby has had a new guage made by Tennent, of San Francisco,
and the tests show the new guage to give rather more water than the old one,
both standing side by side. The figures above are, therefore, too small.

  It is proper to remark that the rain fall here is not unusual, the mean annual
fall on the globe being estimated at sixty inches, and in the northern
hemisphere at about ninety inches. In the tropics of the eastern continent it is
computed at seventy-seven, and in the western tropics at one hundred and fifteen
inches. The latter is about the fall at Nevada City during the rainy season of
1861-62.

  But there are other places on the globe subject to still greater deluges from
the clouds. According to Maury, rain fell at Paramaribo, in South America, in
one season, to the depth of two hundred and twenty-nine inches, or nineteen
feet. Brazil has had a rain fall in a season of twenty-three feet, and
twenty-five feet have fallen in a year at South Bombay. In forty-one days a
hundred and fifty-three inches, or thirteen feet of water fell on the west coast
of Patagonia. From the facts before us, it is safe to say that the fall of rain
annually in Nevada county is not above the average on the surface of the globe.

  A late fall of snow occurred at Nevada and Grass Valley May 21,1861, which
broke down and damaged fruit trees. It was very moist and heavy and in a few
hours was dissolved in water and gone.

  It has been observed by those in the employ of the South Yuba Canal Company,
that when the thermometer at Nevada is at 37° to 38° Fahrenheit, snow falls
instead of rain. If the thermometer shows 43° to 44° it rains further on about
twenty miles above Nevada, and snows beyond. At 50° to 51° it rains to the
summit. These observations apply, of course, to times when vapors of the clouds
are condensing in the form of rain or snow.

  We can give only some general idea of the changes in the thermometer as
observed at the office of the South Yuba Canal Company. The coldest day was
January 20, 1854, when at seven in the morning the mercury stood at 1° above
zero, while the hottest day ever known at the same, point was 142 1/2° in the sun.

  For extraordinary changes of weather, the fact may be cited, that on April 12,
1859, the thermometer indicated at 2 1/2 o'clock P. M., 94°; seven and a half
hours later, at 10 o'clock, the mercury had fallen to 27°. The temperature in
the Winter season, in the morning, ranges from 12° to 40°, and in Summer, the
hottest weather in the sun is usually from 110° to 130°. These remarks are only
intended to show the extraordinary extremes of heat and cold. Generally Nevada
county has a pleasant and equable climate; in fact, all who have enjoyed it for
a time are captivated, and if away, long to return to it again. The Summers are
all sunshine and are quite warm, but the nights are cool and refreshing inducing
sound and invigorating sleep, while the Winters are not severe except at the
highest altitudes, and even there the degrees of cold are not to be estimated by
the depth of the snow. A large number of persons and some families passed the
Winter of 1865—66, very pleasantly at Meadow Lake, and while this volume is
going through the press, a great many more are following the example of their
predecessors.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Bean’s History and Directory of Nevada County, California

CONTAINING A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY, WITH
SKETCHES OF THE VARIOUS TOWNS AND MINING
CAMPS, THE NAMES AND OCCUPATION OF
RESIDENTS; ALSO, FULL STATISTICS
OF MINING AND ALL OTHER
INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.

COMPILED BY EDWIN F. BEAN.

PRINTED AT THE DAILY GAZETTE BOOK AND JOB OFFICE,
1867.


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