Winter, who needs it?

 Brookville National Defender, May, 1864

The Cold Weather and the Fruit Prospect

But once since the settlement of Indiana have we had a parallel to the sudden cold that visited us on the first day of this year. The winter of 1855-56 was almost exactly the counterpart of the present. 

The summer of 1855 was remarkable for its long continued drought and its uniform coolness. In September the summer drought was broken by copious rains, which extended over the greater part of the Mississippi Valley. From this, till the 24th day of December, the season was warm and wet, ice at no time forming more than half an inch in thickness.

The day was introduced by a heavy rain which continued till about 3 o'clock p.m. when it changed to snow and at 6 p.m. the thermometer marked zero, at which point it remained stationary till 3 p.m. when a new wave of cold appeared to pass over this region, and at 8 p.m. the thermometer marked 20 below zero.

From this to the 1st day of January 1856, each day the temperature reached zero sometime in the 24 hours, and often sank as low as 10 or 15 below that point.

On New Year's Day, the mercury rose to 25 degrees. and snow began to fall, which continued with but little interruption until the evening of January 2nd, when the temperature again fell to zero, and each successive morning sank lower than the preceding until on the morning of the 9th of January, 1856, it reached the unparalleled point of 26 below zero at Indianapolis. 

From this day, the temperature gradually rose but did not reach the thawing point in the shade until the 22nd day of February. 

On comparing these memories with the current cold snap, we shall not fail to observe the similarity of the two winters. The only difference worthy of note is that in the present season, the severe cold commenced a week later -- did not reach as low a temperature by six degrees, nor continue uniformity below the freezing point so long.

NOTE: So, the winters were not similar at all, simply cold. The fruit crop was not addressed in this story.

The summer of 1816 was the coldest ever due to a volcanic winter that affected the entire Northern Hemisphere.

LINK TO THAT HERE.