Weather rambling — April 1887

This 19th century weather report was not an April Fool’s joke.

“We have been having January weather for the past few days,” the Chestertown correspondent reported April 1, 1887 in The Morning Star of Glens Falls. “Mercury registered two degrees below zero Thursday morning.”

The cold spell broke, but the thaw would be long in duration.

“‘Old Sol’ smiled brightly all day yesterday, and his warm rays made a slight inroad into the huge snow banks that envelope us on all sides,” The Morning Star reported on April 2.

Robins and bluebirds were spotted at East Lake George on April 3.

“There have been 130 days of consecutive sleighing in Glens Falls this past year,” The Morning Star reported on April 4. “The first installment of the usual April showers came shortly after one o’clock this morning. The warm drops bid us hope that the huge snow banks will disappear before mid-summer.”

Yet, the unseasonable weather lingered.

“It is very evident that if we are to have any spring this year it will have to be postponed until summer,” The Morning Star reported on April 6. “We are now in the first full week of April, and, in lieu of the warm genial showers which the legend tells us ‘bring forth May flowers,’ we are undergoing an experience of biting winds and flurries of snow.”

In downtown Glens Falls, the prognosis depended on which side of Glen Street one was standing on.

“The north side of Glen Street was bathed in sunshine yesterday afternoon and the gutter was filled with running water, while on the south side of the street, in the shade, a coating of ice covered the water that had settled outside the curb,” The Morning Star reported on April 7.

There was consensus on April 9.

“The general verdict seems to be that the present snow has outlived its usefulness.”

Robins had been spotted in Washington County, The Granville Sentinel reported on April 8.

“At last gentle spring has sprung and storm doors are being taken down. The corner lounger assumes its favorite haunt.”

Yet it would still be a while before plowing and planting.

“Our farmers are getting impatient and anxious to get to work, but huge snow drifts impede their progress,” The Granville Sentinel reported on April 15.

“A novel sight is dusty roads bordered with banks of snow from two to four feet high,” the Warrensburg correspondent reported April 15 in The Morning Star.

“A gentleman living near Fortsville walked on the snow crust to South Glens Falls, a distance of about six miles,” The Morning Star reported on April 16.

“Snow drifts are as high as the fence tops at Minerva, Essex County, The Granville Sentinel reported on April 22.

“Lake Champlain is tampered with still by venturesome travelers, and the ice is still strong in many places,” The Morning Star reported on April 23

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