Weather Rambling — March 1895

“We had a small-sized blizzard here Monday night, about three inches of snow, and it all blew into the roads. Tuesday morning thermometer at zero,” the South Hartford correspondent reported in The Granville Sentinel on March 8, 1895.

“The small boys with their marbles have come to stay and are one of the signs of the times. Robins have not made their appearance,” the Salem correspondent reported in The Granville Sentinel on March 22.

Yet lakes and ponds were still frozen solid.

“The ice in Lake Champlain at Whitehall is about twenty inches thick and is being used to drive as far north as Ticonderoga. This is very unusual for this season of the year. Last year the ice all went out of the lake before March 10,” The Granville Sentinel reported on March 29.

One year ago today, Mr. and Mrs. George Cronkhite crossed Lake George from Katskill Bay to Bolton in a rowboat. The ice in that part of the lake is now twenty-one inches thick,” The Morning Star reported on March 25.

“House cleaning has begun in town, and, from all signs, an early season is manifested, at least,” The Granville Sentinel reported on March 29. “We have dreamed we heard a robin, but, as yet, it cannot be substantiated.”

In other 19th century weather news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

1881

“One hundred-and two-days sleighing, so far this winter. How many more we won’t attempt to tell,” the Elizabethtown Post & Gazette reported on March 3.

Indeed, the remaining days would seem numbered.

“Sleighing is very thin, and nervous people are very nervous as they listen to the grating of the sleigh shoes on the grit,” the Post & Gazette reported on March 10.

Mud was the inconvenience of the day in southern Essex County.

“Two horses are not enough to pull one man and a light buggy from Addison Junction to Ticonderoga village now. There seems to be no bottom of the clay mud,” the Post & Gazette reported on March 24.

“The religious, social and business circles of Crown Point are each and all at quarantine for an unspecified time,” the Post & Gazette reported, tongue-in-cheek, on March 31. “We can’t give the exact depth of the mud, for there is no dry place on which to stand and take measurements.”

Late March snow covered the mud.

“Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday were very blustering days. It is hoped that the Lion has gone and the Lamb will return,” the Post & Gazette reported on March 31. “Six inches of snow on the ground this morning and still coming.”

1879

“The beautiful snow is marching out,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on March 7.

“March has behaved quite respectfully, so far,” the Mineville correspondent reported.

“A cold wave passed over this town Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A severe snowstorm on Monday,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on March 21.

“The late snow has given us a few more days of excellent sleighing,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on March 28.

“Sugar snows are of frequent occurrence. Eight inches fell on Saturday last,” the Moriah Center correspondent reported.

Some were praying for Spring.

“The universal prayers is, ‘Come, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness come!,’” the Schroon Lake correspondent reported.

Others were looking ahead to summer.

“The livery stable keepers are painting their wagons, cleaning harnesses and preparing for a vigorous summer campaign.”

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