Weather rambling — February 1895

There was plenty of snow on the ground at the beginning of February 1895.

Sleighing is excellent,” the Chestertown correspondent reported in The Morning Star of Glens Falls on Feb. 2, 1895.

Some places had too much snow for sleighing.

“The storm and high wind of last Saturday and Sunday created a blockade of the roads that were not broken from state road and Harrisburg until Wednesday,” the Stony Creek correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Feb. 2.

Ice harvesting was underway.

“Farmers are busy harvesting ice of excellent quality,” the Easton correspondent reported in The Granville Sentinel on Feb. 1.

“Although the sleighing has been poor in most places in the village during the past week, workmen have been busy carting in large loads of ice of superior quality, about 10 inches thick.”

A cold wave set in.

“Yesterday morning was the coldest of the season by two degrees. Thermometers registered in some localities sixteen to twenty degrees below zero,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 6.

It was 30 below zero at North Creek on Feb. 7.

At DeLong’s brick yard in Glens Falls it was 36 below zero and at J. P. Van Huesen’s at West Mountain 32 below.

“If you doubt that it’s cold, look at the artistic work of Jack Frost in the way of tracery on many windows,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 7.

“One of the effects of the cold snap is the retirement of the popcorn wagon from the corner of Glen and Ridge streets,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 7.

“Tuesday (Feb. 5) the mercury went down to 30 and 35 below the cipher,” the West Mountain correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Feb. 8.

“The temperature registered twenty-four degrees below zero in some part of our village Wednesday morning,” the South Hartford correspondent reported.

“The thermometer registered 30 degrees below zero at Salem Wednesday morning, being the coldest of the season,” The Granville correspondent reported on Feb. 8.

“The mercury went clear down Tuesday at this point, reaching twenty-eight degrees below zero,” the Shushan correspondent reported.

“Not since the blizzard of 1888 has this section seen such a severe storm as that of last Tuesday night and yesterday. The snowfall was not so heavy as that of seven years ago, but the low temperature and heavy wind were doubly severe,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 9.

“The Glens Falls Paper Mill Company sent a special train to New York Saturday evening with paper for the World. This was made necessary by the delay of the two previous days occasioned by the storm,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 11.

“Owing to the prolonged cold spell, farmers in Stillwater and vicinity are obliged to draw water from the Hudson River, a distance of three miles and over. All wells, springs and usual watering places are frozen,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 15.

“Services were held Sunday in the schoolhouse in District №1. The roads being nearly impossible from drifts prevented many people from coming to church,” the Putnam correspondent reported in The Granville Sentinel on Feb. 15.

“The blizzard of last week has left about 18 inches of snow on the ground,” the Shushan correspondent reported.

“Lake Champlain is frozen over its entire length for the first time in seventy-five years,” The Granville Sentinel reported on Feb. 15.

A local baker capitalized on the weather in advertising in The Morning Star on Feb. 14.

“When the thermometer is at zero, Glen Bread is at top quality.”

This robin must have gotten the flight schedule wrong.

“One lone, venturesome robin chirping as merrily as he was wont to do on an April day, sat on the elm bough on Washington Street yesterday morning,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 16. “One solitary robin does not make a spring, and it is not likely that this one will tarry long in this region of snowbanks.”

Sleighing conditions were deteriorating.

“The thaw is gradually carrying off all the snow, and already the sleighing is poor on some roads. A gentleman who drove from Granville to Glens Falls yesterday said the road was bare of snow in many places,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 21, 1895.

“Owing to the poor sleighing on the bridge and (Glen Street) hill, wagons were used yesterday by the teamsters drawing coal to the paper mill,” The Morning Star reported on Feb. 26.

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