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The Winter of 1835 to 1836 at Ft Vancouver


IbrChris

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The Winter of 1835 to 1836 at Ft Vancouver

From the meteorological observations in the journal of Samuel Parker "Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains"

Some highlights from the records which comprise October 1835 to mid-May 1836

 

Oct 24, 1835

Had "snow and rain". It was 33 at 7am, 36 at 1pm. This would be earlier by a week than the earliest recorded snowfall in the Portland records back to 1874.

Oct 1835
Coldest temp was 33, warmest 76

Nov 19, 1835

Snow and rain. Temp was 30 at 7am, 35 at 1pm. Very early snow again.

 

Nov 1835
Coldest temp was 30, warmest 60

 

Dec 1-7, 1835

Marginal arctic blast. Several days below freezing with 1pm temps 31-32. On the 7th it is cloudy, 28 at 1pm and rises to 34 by 7pm. Possible overrunning?

 

Dec 1835

Torch last week of month after some heavy rains. 1pm temperatures rise to 56-58 from Dec 26 to Dec 29. Cloudy overall.

Coldest temp in December was 22. Warmest 58.

 

Jan 17-22, 1836
Another arctic blast. Snow and 30/26 on the 22nd (7 am and 1pm obs) and 29/23 on the 23rd (same hours). Thereafter back into 40s.

 

Coldest temp in Jan was 23, warmest 54.

Feb 10-12, 1836
New arctic blast, now the third of the winter. Highs 30-35. Lows 28-30 (7am obs).

Feb 11, 1836
"The most snowy day" Temps are 28-30 all obs.

 

Coldest temp in Feb was 28, warmest 54

March 1836 was pretty benign normal weather. Coldest 32, warmest 66.

 

April 19, 1836
"Very high wind"

April 1836 heat wave

1pm temp of 76 on Apr 27
1pm temp of 90 on Apr 28
1pm temp of 92 on Apr 29
Cloudy and 64 on Apr 30

 

Warmest day 92, coldest low 38

May 1836

Warm again early

May 6: 84
May 7: 80
Rain and 60 on 8th

May 15, 1835

"A bit of thunder"

 

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I love the historical stuff... but not sure why this is a separate topic.   It was actually a fairly mundane winter.   Love the April heat though.    Classic marine push on the night of 4/29/1836.   I bet the land where Shelton is now located experienced some strong SW winds that night.    Good to know.      :)

**REPORTED CONDITIONS AND ANOMALIES ARE NOT MEANT TO IMPLY ANYTHING ON A REGIONAL LEVEL UNLESS SPECIFICALLY STATED**

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I put it in as a separate topic in case anyone is interested in revisiting it without pouring through a 250+ page thread on February 2014. I should have titled the thread "Fort Vancouver historical data" or something similar though.

If an admin wants to edit the thread name to "Fort Vancouver Historical Data" or "PNW 19th century historical weather" that would be fine by me.

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Here is some data for some of the early winters which featured arctic air west of the Cascades. I've written up a Word doc with every winter detailed from 1849 to 1877 thus far...will continue to add to it as time allows.
 

December 1852

Fort Vancouver reached 7

Fort Steilacoom reached 0

Fort Dalles reached -5

It was a wet month at Ft Vancouver with 13.37" of precip. 

 

January 1854

Fort Steilacoom reached -1

Fort Dalles reached -15 

 

December 1855

Fort Vancouver reached -1. It was a wet month with 10.77" of precip.

 

January 1857

 Fort Vancouver reached 2 

 

January 1862 - The Arctic King

This arctic blast reigns supreme. Back then the only weather records were from US Army outposts (forts). Record lows from this event:

 

-30 at Fort Colville, WA (NW of Spokane) on the 17th

-24 at Fort Walla Walla, WA on the 16th and 17th

-23 at Fort Dalles, OR (near The Dalles) on the 17th

-10 at Fort Vancouver, WA (near Portland) on the 17th 

-8 at Fort Steilacoom, WA (near Tacoma) on the 16th and 17th

0 at Fort Hoskins, OR (near Dallas) on the 17th

4 at Siletz River, OR on the 17th and 30th

16 at Fort Umpqua, OR (near Roseburg) on the 17th

 

The month as a whole was remarkably cold. At most locations the coldest since European colonization. Monthly mean temperature (F):

 

2.5 at Fort Colville

9.0 at Fort Walla Walla

10.9 at Fort Dalles

21.3 at Fort Vancouver

22.8 at Fort Steilacoom

26.8 at Fort Hoskins

28.2 at Astoria

29.8 at Siletz River

 

Fort Vancouver had a 24" peak snow depth on 5 days in the month and the snowpack at this location persisted through the end of February. Total snowfall for the month was 45.3" at Fort Vancouver.

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After Jan 1862  the 2nd single coldest month for which we have surviving data is Jan 1868...by far colder than the late 19th and 20th century cold months of Jan 1875, Jan 1888, Jan 1909, Jan 1930, Jan 1950 etc.

Heck March 1867 was colder at a mean temp of 36.1 than the coldest Feb since 1933 at Portland.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Low temp of 22, sounds like kind of a lame winter by 1800s and even contemporary standards.

 

From what I understand, the winter of 1833-34 was pretty severe at Fort Vancouver. Worst until 1846-47, which was the worst until 1861-62.

 

Yup...I have read some notes that a high official of the Hudson's Bay Company wrote about the winter of 1833-34 at Nisqually.  It makes reference to insane amounts of snow in both Jan and Feb.  Sounds like it was epic.  I didn't know the Fort Vancouver records went back that far.  I only have them back to 1850.

Death To Warm Anomalies!

 

Winter 2023-24 stats

 

Total Snowfall = 1.0"

Day with 1" or more snow depth = 1

Total Hail = 0.0

Total Ice = 0.2

Coldest Low = 13

Lows 32 or below = 45

Highs 32 or below = 3

Lows 20 or below = 3

Highs 40 or below = 9

 

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Yup...I have read some notes that a high official of the Hudson's Bay Company wrote about the winter of 1833-34 at Nisqually.  It makes reference to insane amounts of snow in both Jan and Feb.  Sounds like it was epic.  I didn't know the Fort Vancouver records went back that far.  I only have them back to 1850.

 

I can only imagine what the climate was like up here at 1600'.

Snowfall                                  Precip

2022-23: 95.0"                      2022-23: 17.39"

2021-22: 52.6"                    2021-22: 91.46" 

2020-21: 12.0"                    2020-21: 71.59"

2019-20: 23.5"                   2019-20: 58.54"

2018-19: 63.5"                   2018-19: 66.33"

2017-18: 30.3"                   2017-18: 59.83"

2016-17: 49.2"                   2016-17: 97.58"

2015-16: 11.75"                 2015-16: 68.67"

2014-15: 3.5"
2013-14: 11.75"                  2013-14: 62.30
2012-13: 16.75"                 2012-13: 78.45  

2011-12: 98.5"                   2011-12: 92.67"

It's always sunny at Winters Hill! 
Fighting the good fight against weather evil.

 

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The data for mean temp, lowest temp, precipitation etc for the Nov through March months for each station in WA/OR from 1849 onward can be located through some careful searching on Google Books, however it's not all in one place making it a bit of a chore to find. I'll post some of it over the next week or two.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Winter 1833-1834, some data was kept by Dr. Meredith Gairdner at Ft. Vancouver. He states that it got down to "+6 Fahrenheit". While it appears to have been the coldest winter since Hudson Bay Co. established the fort at Vancouver (WA) it doesn't appear to have been nearly as cold as 1861-62 or 1867-68.

"On the Diseases prevalent at Fort Vancouver, Columbia River, North West America. From Letters, by Dr Meredith Gairdner a, Medical Oflicer to the Hudson's Bay Company, dated between August 1833 and March 1835.—Dr Gairdner arrived in May 1833 at Fort Vancouver, in Lat. about 46° north, the principal station of the Company beyond the Rocky Mountains; situate on the north bank of the Columbia river, about 90 miles from its mouth on the Pacific, from which it is navigable thus far for vessels of 300 tons burden. The temperature in the summers of 1833 and of 1834 was from 78° to 89° Fah. during the day. “ The winter of 1833-4, he says in the letters of March 1834, “ had been one of the severest since the occupation of the Colombian territory by the whites. The frost set in on the 26th December, and continued to the end of January : the lowest temperature was +6" Fah. The Columbia, which is here 1670 yards wide, and from 6 to 7 fathoms deep, closed when the temperature fell to 14°, and continued frozen for about three weeks,—permitting a free traffic across it." But again, by his letters of March 1835, the following winter of 1834—5 was comparatively very mild ; the thermometer not having been below 18° Fah. ; but it was extremely wet. In the month of January alone "more than 10 inches of rain fell, and about the same quantity in December."

- The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal No. CXXVI, 1836, p. 249

http://books.google.com/books?id=tw5PAAAAcAAJ&dq=Winter%201833%20to%201834%20%22Fort%20Vancouver%22&pg=PA249#v=onepage&q=Winter%201833%20to%201834%20%22Fort%20Vancouver%22&f=false

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Winter 1833-1834, some data was kept by Dr. Meredith Gairdner at Ft. Vancouver. He states that it got down to "+6 Fahrenheit". While it appears to have been the coldest winter since Hudson Bay Co. established the fort at Vancouver (WA) it doesn't appear to have been nearly as cold as 1861-62 or 1867-68.

 

"On the Diseases prevalent at Fort Vancouver, Columbia River, North West America. From Letters, by Dr Meredith Gairdner a, Medical Oflicer to the Hudson's Bay Company, dated between August 1833 and March 1835.—Dr Gairdner arrived in May 1833 at Fort Vancouver, in Lat. about 46° north, the principal station of the Company beyond the Rocky Mountains; situate on the north bank of the Columbia river, about 90 miles from its mouth on the Pacific, from which it is navigable thus far for vessels of 300 tons burden. The temperature in the summers of 1833 and of 1834 was from 78° to 89° Fah. during the day. “ The winter of 1833-4, he says in the letters of March 1834, “ had been one of the severest since the occupation of the Colombian territory by the whites. The frost set in on the 26th December, and continued to the end of January : the lowest temperature was +6" Fah. The Columbia, which is here 1670 yards wide, and from 6 to 7 fathoms deep, closed when the temperature fell to 14°, and continued frozen for about three weeks,—permitting a free traffic across it." But again, by his letters of March 1835, the following winter of 1834—5 was comparatively very mild ; the thermometer not having been below 18° Fah. ; but it was extremely wet. In the month of January alone "more than 10 inches of rain fell, and about the same quantity in December."

 

- The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal No. CXXVI, 1836, p. 249

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=tw5PAAAAcAAJ&dq=Winter%201833%20to%201834%20%22Fort%20Vancouver%22&pg=PA249#v=onepage&q=Winter%201833%20to%201834%20%22Fort%20Vancouver%22&f=false

 

 

Good God.

 

Read some of that medical stuff.    

 

What a complete nightmare.    Anyone on here glorifying those days is truly crazy.   Transport you back there for 2 days and you would be screaming to return to the 21st century.  

 

Snow and cold was just probably a means to a quicker death.

**REPORTED CONDITIONS AND ANOMALIES ARE NOT MEANT TO IMPLY ANYTHING ON A REGIONAL LEVEL UNLESS SPECIFICALLY STATED**

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I love the historical stuff... but not sure why this is a separate topic.   It was actually a fairly mundane winter.   Love the April heat though.    Classic marine push on the night of 4/29/1836.   I bet the land where Shelton is now located experienced some strong SW winds that night.    Good to know.      :)

 

Deadly.

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January 1868 was pretty cold at Fort Vancouver (monthly average of 24), but I believe it was pretty dry cold in Portland/Vancouver (after a near record wet month in December 1867). Eugene and Corvallis had a ton of snow with it, like 2'+.

Fort Steilacom averaged 26.7 or something like that in Jan 1868. Only a inch of snow going into it.

Death To Warm Anomalies!

 

Winter 2023-24 stats

 

Total Snowfall = 1.0"

Day with 1" or more snow depth = 1

Total Hail = 0.0

Total Ice = 0.2

Coldest Low = 13

Lows 32 or below = 45

Highs 32 or below = 3

Lows 20 or below = 3

Highs 40 or below = 9

 

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Good God.

 

Read some of that medical stuff.    

 

What a complete nightmare.    Anyone on here glorifying those days is truly crazy.   Transport you back there for 2 days and you would be screaming to return to the 21st century.  

 

Snow and cold was just probably a means to a quicker death.

 

My preferences can beat up your preferences’ dad.

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Low temp of 22, sounds like kind of a lame winter by 1800s and even contemporary standards.

 

From what I understand, the winter of 1833-34 was pretty severe at Fort Vancouver. Worst until 1846-47, which was the worst until 1861-62.

Do you know any specifics about 1846-47? I have no idea on that one.

 

Amazing how many really cold winters we had back then.

Death To Warm Anomalies!

 

Winter 2023-24 stats

 

Total Snowfall = 1.0"

Day with 1" or more snow depth = 1

Total Hail = 0.0

Total Ice = 0.2

Coldest Low = 13

Lows 32 or below = 45

Highs 32 or below = 3

Lows 20 or below = 3

Highs 40 or below = 9

 

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Aside from the phenomenal cold waves back then not much has changed regarding the climate here. There were plenty of "dud" winters back then as there are today. I think this winter (2013-14) would have went down as a fairly severe winter by European standards, assuming it was within a few decades after European colonization. We had two impressive cold waves, the first in Dec would have been huge for PDX/Vancouver if we had snowcover going in (like Eugene). As is some spots like Scappoose within the swatch of 2" snowcover fell down close to zero, of course Eugene hit -10. PDX would have certainly fallen to 5-10 with some snowcover. I'd rank this winter of medium severity if it had occurred in the 19th century. This also goes to show that mean monthly temp alone (the most common data for the 1800s) isn't that useful for spotting the shorter duration arctic blasts that were almost certainly frequent in the winters of the 19th century.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Do you know any specifics about 1846-47? I have no idea on that one.

 

Amazing how many really cold winters we had back then.

 

Here's Fort Victoria's journal from January 1847, presumably milder there than further inland.

 

http://www.fortvictoriajournal.ca/1847-january.php

 

I know the Columbia was frozen over at Vancouver for a significant part of January and early February.  Of course that was also the winter of the Donner Party down in the Sierras.

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Here's Fort Victoria's journal from January 1847, presumably milder there than further inland.

 

http://www.fortvictoriajournal.ca/1847-january.php

 

I know the Columbia was frozen over at Vancouver for a significant part of January and early February.  Of course that was also the winter of the Donner Party down in the Sierras.

Sounds like Jan 1847 was pretty brutal alright. It actually made note of the bay freezing over.

Death To Warm Anomalies!

 

Winter 2023-24 stats

 

Total Snowfall = 1.0"

Day with 1" or more snow depth = 1

Total Hail = 0.0

Total Ice = 0.2

Coldest Low = 13

Lows 32 or below = 45

Highs 32 or below = 3

Lows 20 or below = 3

Highs 40 or below = 9

 

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Here's Fort Victoria's journal from January 1847, presumably milder there than further inland.

 

http://www.fortvictoriajournal.ca/1847-january.php

 

I know the Columbia was frozen over at Vancouver for a significant part of January and early February.  Of course that was also the winter of the Donner Party down in the Sierras.

 

 

I love reading this stuff.   

 

I skipped ahead to July 4, 1847 just to see what is was like...

 

Sunday 4th  Raining almost all day.     :)

**REPORTED CONDITIONS AND ANOMALIES ARE NOT MEANT TO IMPLY ANYTHING ON A REGIONAL LEVEL UNLESS SPECIFICALLY STATED**

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And March 1852 had a major snowstorm at Fort Steilacoom.

Mean temp was 40.2 for the month.

 

Here's the 1850-1868 March mean temps at Ft. Steilacoom

 

1850: 40.5

1851: 43.2

1852: 40.2

1853: 41.9

1854: 43.9

1855: 47.8

1856: 47.7

1857: 41.7

1858: 44.2

1859: 37.8

1860: 44.8

1861: 45.4

1862: 41.1

1863: 44.1

1864: 45.1

1865: 40.0

1866: 45.1

1867: 36.3

1868: 44.0

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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