Departures of temperature and precipitation with

5

976

NOTES EXPLANATORY OF PRECEDING TABLES: 15 years or more of record are computed from a normal or "standard mean", adjusted to a uniform 40-year period for temperature, and a 35-year period for precipitation; for stations of 10 to 14 years the means for the period of record are used. All complete records are used in determining division and State averages. Except as otherwise indicated, observations are generally made in the late afternoon, near sunset, and temperature and precipitation recorded are for the 24 hours ending at time of observation. First-order Weather Bureau Station; temperature and precipitation are for the 24-hour period, midnight to midnight, unless otherwise indicated. 2 Precipitation is measured in the morning; amount then recorded is for the preceding 24 hours. 3 Precipitation is for 24 hours, midnight to midnight. Data for 24 hours ending at 12:30 a. m. ‡ Precipitation measured with recording gage. Included in the next measurement. T., Trace, or precipitation less than .01 inch. Incomplete monthly record. † Also on subsequent dates. Values in italics interpolated from surrounding stations. // Gage equipped with windshield. (WBO, Springfield, Ill., 5-17-43-1150)

VOL. XLVIII

No 5

SPRINGFIELD, ILL., MAY, 1943

GENERAL SUMMARY

DATA

period was 5.97 inches at Edwardsville on the 7th; four other stations recorded over 4 inches in a similar time-period during the month.

STORM DAMAGE (Amounts Estimated)

TORNADOES: In the LaHarpe area on the 15th what appeared to be a tornado occurred about 9:30 p. m. It moved from about 5 miles southwest of LaHarpe northeastward along a path about one mile wide, dipping to the ground intermittently over a stretch of about 20 miles. Property damage approximated about $10,000. At SaThis was the wettest May in 54 years of Illinois State-wide record-the number vanna about 10 p. m. of the same date a small tornado about 35 yards in width, of rainy days averaging 50 per cent greater than normal. Frequency of heavy show-moved northeast along a path one-sixth of a mile in length, causing property damers was outstanding, many stations registering amounts of an inch or more on 5 or (Continued on Page 29)

Stations

Cairo....

Sea level pressure,

extremes-inches

Highest

Date

Lowest

Date

Average
hourly
velocity

6 days during the month; on the 6-8th and 10-11th amounts ranged generally between one and three inches or more, and on the 16-20th between one and two inches or PRESSURE, WIND, HUMIDITY, SUNSHINE AND DEGREE DAYS over. Twenty-four hour amounts exceeded four inches at five stations, Edwardsville recording 5.97 inches in a 24-hour period; 48-hour amounts exceeding five inches occurred on the 17-18th at several stations in the southwest portion, including Hillsboro, Medora, Mt. Olive, and Virden; totals of five to seven inches were recorded in the period between the 15th and 20th over a wide area embracing most of the central division and the northern part of the southern division, in which areas monthly amounts of ten to 14 inches occurred at most stations. A number of stations in the eastern and southern part of the central division and the northern part of the southern division exceeded their all-time May records; at Springfield it was the second wettest May in 64 years, exceeded only in 1899. In the northern division monthly precipitation averaged 157 per cent of normal, in the central division 246 per cent, and in the southern division 223 per cent. Heavy showers which occurred during the latter part of April, between the 23d and 30th, combined with the frequent and oftentimes heavy May rains, saturated the soil and produced a maximum run-off. The ensuing floods in the Illinois, Mississippi, Wabash, Sangamon, and Kaskaskia rivers and their tributaries were in many instances the highest of record; there was an estimated flooded area of over 1,000,000 acres of farm land in the State, including around 150,000 acres of small grain ruined. At least nine deaths were attributed indirectly to the flood. Property and crop damage and work interruption will run into the millions in Illinois. (A complete survey of flood damage will be available at a later date.)

Temperature averaged below normal for the State for the third successive month, contributing further to the unseasonably cool spring. Freezing temperatures and frosts occurred at a number of stations in the north and central portions on the 1st; other cool periods during the month were the 7-14th, 17-21st, and 24-26th. In contrast temperatures were well above normal generally on the 5-6th and 29-31st.

Sunshine was markedly below normal throughout the State. sunshine averaged 23 per cent below normal. For the State as a 54 years, only in 1892 has May been more cloudy.

In central Illinois whole in the past

Chicago Apt.
Peoria Apt...
Springfield..

1899

Field work was generally two to three weeks behind at the month's close, as a result of wet soil and flood conditions. This delay was particularly serious with respect to corn planting; only about 15 per cent of that crop had been planted at the close of the month. Considerable early-planted corn also required replanting, Unseasonably cool weather and inadequate sunshine retarded crop progress. Condition of winter wheat was highly variable, ranging from poor to good at the month's close, with a few localities in the north-central part of the State reporting condition of very good. Flood waters inundated large areas of lowland acreage in central and southern Illinois; however, during the last few days of the month 1908 planting of corn and plowing were resumed actively on higher ground and lighter 1909 1910 soils. A few soybeans had been planted at the month's close. Oats mostly ranged 1911 from fairly good to good. Alfalfa and clover which survived the winter improved 1912 quite steadily during most of the month; some alfalfa cutting was reported in the 1913 south. Gardens, truck, and potatoes were poor in many cases, but condition was variable with numerous other localities reporting those crops as good.-C.L.R.

TEMPERATURE

Year

1890

60.2

28

4.51

13

8

10

1891

59.3

28 2.58 1.84 2.41

2.21

0.0

15

10

6

1892

59.2

1893.

59.4

34 9.45 8.03 6.68 8.15 0.0 18
25 2.70 5.34 4.77 4.37 0.0

9

9

1891

10

6

0.0

11

12

12

7

27 1.34 2.33 2.22 2.00 T.

7

14

12

5

10

5.86 7.20 4.06 6.03

25 3.84 3.99 4.77 4.13

29 1.86 1.99 1.92 1.93

63.6

26 3.22 2.98 1.51 2.70
3.91 3.49 5.12 4.01
7.64 8.47 6.88 7.83
3.10 4.82 3.98 4.09

89

24 4.82 5.90 3.78 5.06
2.58 1.73 1.38 1.91

31 3.90 3.79 3.82 3.83

28 5.80 1.53 1.71 2.90 0.0 8

8

1915

60.1

97

29 4.40 1.63 0.85 2.30
6.14 7.24 7.76 7.02
4.30 5.58 3.49 4.68
3.12 4.77 4.50
4.90 4.82

4.19

T. 11

10

6.22

5. 18

6

The mean temperature for the State was 61.6, which is 1.2° below normal. 1921 Temperatures were below normal throughout the State with the exception of scattered stations in the southeast and south. Great deficiencies, ranging from 2° to more than 30 below normal, occurred over an area extending from Antioch in the 1925 extreme northeast southwestward across Peoria, Woodford, and Livingston counties 1926. 1927 month ranged from 95° at East St. Louis on to Adams County. Extremes for the 5th to 26° at Freeport and Marengo on the 1st.

2.77 5.10 7.42
1.97 2.04 2.30 2.08
4.39 3.42 2.90 3.60
3 22 4.24 5.83 4.31
3.64 5.11 3.50

4.93

T.

5

16

27 1.80 3.03 2.75 2.58
2.47 7.24 7.87 5.91

30 2.16 1.64 1.72 1.82 0.0
4.25 4.57 3.76 4.28
3.61 2.03 1.31 2.35
7.25 7.95 9.22 8.04
0.78 0.73 1.90 1.03
6.38 9.24 7.55 7.95
2.09 2.48 1.28 2.07
3.23 3.00 3.67 3.23

T. 0.0

14

T. 17 0.0

0.1 15

0.0 8

T. 10

18

21

18

13

16

11

16

10

7

10

10

11

6

14

6

11

8

10

6

14

15

7

15

9

10

13

9

6

(25)

PRECIPITATION

Precipitation for the State averaged 8.77 inches, which is 4.67 inches above 1934 1935 normal. Monthly amounts were above normal throughout the State with exception of one station in the extreme northwest. Departures ranged from 7 to more than 10 1937 inches above normal over most of the southern half of the central division and the 1938 1939 northern half of the southern division, to 2 to 6 inches above elsewhere over the 1940 State except generally less than an inch above normal in the extreme northern 1941 and western portions of the northern division and slightly below normal at Galena 1942 1943 in Jo Daviess County in the extreme northwest. Monthly totals ranged from 14.90 inches at Edwardsville, 14.27 at Marshall, and 14.24 at Waverly, to 3.23 inches at Period....... Fulton, 3.45 at Belvidere, and 3.63 at Galena. The greatest amount within a 24-hour

NAT.

HIST.