Weather during the 1850s: Daily Almanac for July

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Weather during the 1850s: Daily Almanac for July

July 1:
1857: Fredericksburg, Virginia experienced a “tremendous hail-storm...accompanied by terrific thunder.” Richmond was pounded by a “very severe hail-storm” which extended to Stafford, Culpepper, and adjacent counties. “Hailstones fell of an immense size, and to the depth of six inches, in some places between Fredericksburg and Acqina Creek.”

1859: The mercury sizzled at 109° at Wyandotte, Kansas.

July 3:
1854: Snow covered the mountains east of Burlington, Vermont.

July 4:
1854: Concord, New Hampshire and Boston fried under 100° high temperatures.

July 6:
1856: “A storm of rain and hail, with vivid lightning” moved across Boston.

July 8:
1854: A tornado swept near Dayton, Ohio.

July 8-9:
1855: Severe thunderstorms pounded Milwaukee. “Towards midnight the storm was at its height, the wind blew with great violence, and from different points of the compass, the rain fell in a perfect deluge; the flashes of lightning were fearfully vivid, and the peals of Heaven’s artillery fairly shook the earth.”

July 9:
1852: The temperature topped out at 99° at Fulton, New York. During the afternoon, “a tremendous thunderstorm…accompanied by wind and hail” moved through the area. Hailstones were as large as “pigeons eggs.”

July 11:
1858: A major rainstorm drenched Albany, New York and nearby areas and a tornado battered the area near Newton’s Corners, New York. There, “the hailstones were so large, that they killed chickens and ducks like bullets.”

July 13:
1854: Addison, Illinois was hit by “one of the most destructive hail storms…ever known in this region.” Hailstones were up to five inches in circumference.

1859: Severe thunderstorms lashed parts of New Jersey. At Fort Lee, the severe thunderstorm was “represented as having been grand and terrible” and “numberless trees were splintered to atoms by the lightning, or torn from their roots by the accompanying gale.” At Long Island, the baseball game between the Brooklyn Osceola and the Jamaica Atlantic “was terminated by the severe storm, after two or three innings had been played.”

July 14:
1857: “A storm of rain and hail, with terrific thunder” moved through Waltham, Massachusetts and other parts of Middlesex County. Some hailstones measured 1.5” in circumference.

1859: Cincinnati baked under 101° temperatures.

July 15:
1859: The day was “fiery in temperature” at Cincinnati with a searing temperature of 103°… A breeze was stirring occasionally, but seemed to have come from Libya, so hot and suffocating was it. Instead of cooling or refreshing, it was burning and enervating, and it felt like the breath of a furnace.”

July 18:
1857: A waterspout developed near the Church at St. Elizear, Quebec.

1859: Connecticut was hammered by severe thunderstorms and hail. “In Meriden the hail-storm was exceedingly violent, and the thermometer suddenly fell from 96° to 71°.

July 19:
1850: A tropical storm brought 5" of rain to Vermont.

1853: A short-lived but violent thunderstorm pounded East Varick, New York. “The rain and hail fell in torrents, and were driven with such force by the wind as to beat the growing crops to the ground—entirely destroying most of them. Nor did the fruit trees fare much better—the leaves and branches being swept away. Forest trees were uprooted, windows crushed, fences blown down, and gardens destroyed.”

1854: The temperature soared to 102° at Schenectady, New York.

1855: High heat covered much of the eastern United States. At Baltimore, the temperature rose to 96°. At Hartford, the mercury reached 97°. At Chicago, the thermometer registered 100° and at Jersey City, New Jersey, the temperature soared to 101°.

July 20:
1854: Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Concord, New Hampshire saw temperatures reach or exceed 100°, with Baltimore having the highest reading of 102°.

1855: Philadelphia was hit by heavy thunderstorms that caused significant street flooding. “For about thirty minutes the rain descended, not in drops, but in sheets, deluging the city with water.”

1857: Rochester, New York was hit by “the most terrific rain and hail storm of the season” with the hail being “of sufficient size to break windows.”

July 21:
1854: The intense heat continued in the eastern United States. The temperature hit 100° in Springfield, Massachusetts and 102° at Philadelphia.

July 22:
1857: “The most destructive storm of hail ever known in that locality” moved through Red Hook, New York. “Two days after the storm hailstones were picked up which measured between two and three inches in circumference.”

July 23:
1858: “[S]oon after midnight a violent storm set in” at Mount Washington, New Hampshire. “The hail roared on the cabin-roof life grapeshot.” By morning, “the rocks were covered with snow” and the temperature had fallen to 30°.

July 28:
1856: The temperature soared to 100° in New York City.

July 30:
1855: The last of 12 consecutive days with at least some rainfall in the greater New York City area.

Sources: David Ludlum's New England Weather Book and The New York Times