Dad's Weather Journals (incomplete)

John D. Miles, 1939

Elevation at the Forge dam: 1313.96 Feet.

1933

Mar 31 Tapped sugar trees.

Apr 15 Gathered buckets.

Apr 22 Ice went out of lake.

Oct 24 Snowed about 6 inches.

Nov 11 Lake froze over.

Dec 29 -40˚

Winter of 1933-34 is the coldest on record. 40- some days below 0˚; 20- some days in a row that it stayed below 0˚. My grandfather and I with a team of horses Roxie and Molly went to Chateaugay; -40˚ in the morning, nice sunny day, with a load of wood for Frank [Miles]. Not much snow for sleds. We ran the shoulders and the fields where there was more snow. Gramp had a long sheep skin coat and I had on the black horse hide coat. It was cold but we got back.

There was better than 3 feet of ice in the lake where Pop Chase had cut ice for the ice house. Water lines were all froze up. Had to draw water from the lake. Real good skating on the lake. Cub used to take his car out on the ice and tow a bunch of us on a rake-what a ride-from one end to the other. Oscar and Adams [Chase] and I would take a carpet off the long hall in the [Banner House] hotel for a sail. Some one had to carry that back down the lake.

We had an ice road up the old mine road back of the Banner House where we used to slide with hand sleds and my bob sleds. We had a few spills.
1934

Mar 29 Tapped sugar bush.

Apr 19 Gathered buckets.

Apr 25 Ice went out of lake.

May 5 Turned young stock out to pasture.

Dec 7 Lake froze over.
1935
Mar 20 Tapped sugar bush.

Apr 19 Gathered buckets.

Apr 28 Planted potatoes and peas in garden.

Sept 30 It snowed about 1 inch.

Nov 24 Lake froze over.
1936

Mar 17 Tapped sugar bush.

Apr 6 Gathered the buckets. Ice went out the lake.

May 5 Sowed some grain; took young stock to pasture.

Nov 18 Lake froze over last nite.
1937

Apr 26 Ice went out of lake

Aug 28 Finished harvesting.

Nov 22 Lake froze over.

Dec 2 Lake thawed out and froze over again.
1938

Mar 22 Tapped sugar bush.

Apr 18 Ice went out of lake.

Nov 23-5 Lake froze over.
1939

Mar 24 Tapped sugar bush.

May 5-6 Ice went out of lake

Sept 26 Snowed about 3 inches.

Nov 15 Lake froze over.
1940

Apr 2 Tapped sugar bush.

May 3 Ice went out of lake.

Nov 26 Lake froze over.
1941

Apr 18 Ice went out of lake.

Nov 26 Lake froze over.
1942

Apr 23 Ice went out of lake.

May 1 Ice didn’t all go out until today.
1945

Mar 28 Ice went out of lake.

Oct 3 First snow storm. Road plowed between Brainardsville and Chateaugay.

Winter of 1945-46 was not too hard.
1946
Mar 17 Frogs were singing and people are plowing.

Mar 28 Ice went out of the lake.

Oct 1 First snow storm. 1.5 feet of snow. Roads plowed-eight are out [plugged]. Trees down.

Oct 6 Snow all gone and it is like summer.

Nov 7 Lake froze over

1947

Apr 26 Ice went out of lake.

Oct 18 80˚.

1948

Apr 1 Ice went out of the lake.

Winter of 1948-49 was very mild. Coldest day was -20˚.
1949

Apr 1 80˚.

April 13 Ice went out of the lake.

Nov 6 About 1.5 inches of snow.

Nov 23 Lake froze over.

Nov 26 -2˚. About six inches of snow.

Dec 22 60˚.

Dec 29 The lake has frozen over and is all thawed out again.
1950

Jan 1 Three inches of snow. Good skating.

Jan 5 Ice is all broken up in the lake.

Jan 6 About 8 inches of snow.

Jan 8 -20˚. Lake froze over again.

Jan 9 16˚.

Jan 14 Had Chateaugay road grader out and worked some bad places in the roads. A big wind storm took off a lot of roofs.

Jan 19 -10˚. No snow.

Apr 24 Ice went out of the lake.

Dec 4 Plowed roads for the first time. Lake froze over.

1951

April 15 Ice went out of the lake.

Nov 4 First snowstorm to amount to anything. About 6 inches. Put a new water line into house.

Nov 16 About a foot of snow; some stayed on for a week.

Nov 21 4˚.

Nov 22 Buster Reynolds shot an 8-point buck today. 118 lbs. Trim Blow, Bob Cook and myself.

Nov 24 I shot a 6 point today. Buster & Bob Reynolds, Trim Blow. 128 lbs.

Dec 5 50˚. Ice has broken up in the lake. A high wind.

Dec 13 Lake froze over again.

Dec 14 -6˚.

Dec 16 -16˚. A little snow. 6˚ was the high temperature for the day. -18˚ at 10:00 PM.

Dec 17 6˚@ 6:00 AM. 12˚@ 8:00 PM.

Dec 19 -18 at 11:00 PM.

Dec 20. Snowed and blowed.

Dec 21 Thawed and rained.

Dec 22 20˚. Frozen up again. Snowy and windy.

Dec 25 Around 20˚. Sun shone in the forenoon; a little snow in the afternoon.

Dec 28 -26˚.

Dec 30 40˚. A little rain.

Dec 31 30˚. Thawed a little.

1952

Jan 1--Thawing a little; about a foot of snow in the woods.

Jan 8--14 below zero

Jan 29--12 below zero; not much snow.

Jan 30--20 below zero

Jan 31--14 above zero

Feb 1--52˚ and raining.

Feb. 4--Raining and thawing.

Feb 5--Raining.

Feb 11--Snow and rain.

Feb 12--2˚ snowing and blowing

Feb 13--10˚ below zero; clear, cold and windy.

Feb 14--10˚ below zero

Feb 15--4˚ below zero

Feb 16--6˚ below zero

Feb 17--snowing

Feb 18--snowed about 1 foot

Feb 19--snow and raing

Feb 25--clear and sunny

Feb 26--8˚ clear and sunny

Feb 27--6˚

Feb 28--18˚ clear

Feb 29--8˚ clear and sunny

Mar 1--6˚; cloudy and sunny at times

Mar 2--8˚ below zero; clear and cold

Mar 3--6˚ below zero

Mar 4--18˚

Mar 5--32˚; 3 inches of snow

Mar 6--20˚

Mar 9--clear and warm

Mar 10--20˚; thawed in the afternoon

Mar 11--rain and snow

Mar 15--18˚, clear and cold

Mar 16--10˚; 6 inches of snow

Mar 17--28˚; a little snow in the air

Mar 29--first robins; sunny and warm

Mar 30--sunny and warm

Mar 31--warm and cloudy

Apr 1--40˚, sunny and warm

Apr 2--rain and snow all day

April 9--sunny and warm

April 10--sunny and warm

April 11--sunny and real cool

April 18--Ice went out of the lake

April ??--sunny, frogs are singing

May 1--cold wind, cloudy, a little sun

May 3--ground froze, cold and windy

May 5--ground froze, 22˚

May 7--ground white with snow; hail and thunderstorm

May 17--white frost, 30˚, cold rain

Oct 7--first snow

Oct 11--frost, ground froze; 24˚

Nov 8--28˚; snow still stuck to the trees

Nov 14--snow still on the trees; lake froze over in places

Nov 16--1 deer today; 1 deer for a whole week's hunting; 8 to 11 men--trees are loaded

Dec 1--10˚ below zero; lake froze over

Dec 11--ice is frozen up in the lake; nice and sunny

Dec 12--ice is all out of the lake;; 10inches of snow; trees loaded; 26˚

Dec 15; 12˚; lake is still open; clear and cold, about 17" of wet snow

Dec 16--lake froze over

Dec 19--4˚ below zero

Dec 20--20˚ below zero, clear and cold

Dec 25--34˚, snow and rain

Dec 26--stormy with clearing in the afternoon

Dec 27--10˚ below zero

Dec 28--16˚ below zero, clear and sunny, 2˚ below at noon

Dec 30--16˚, clear and sunny

Dec 31--22˚ below zero; clear and sunny; 8˚ below zero at noon

1953

Jan 1--16˚ below zero; 25˚ high for the day, clear and sunny; 20" of snow in the woods. Ground is not froze under the snow.

Jan 2--25˚

Jan 7--clear and cold

Jan 8--24˚ below zero

Jan 10--sunny in the fore noon; rain late in the afternoon; road slippery

Jan 11-20˚; cloud and warm, snowing a little

Jan 15--warm; roads are in tough shape

Jan 16--rain and freezing in the afternoon

Jan 17--10˚ below zero, sleet tonite.

Jan 18--rain, roads slippery

Jan 23--32˚, nice and sunny, thawed today

Jan 24--sleet and colder

Jan 26--26˚ ?inches of snow today

Jan 30--20˚ below zero

Jan 31--34˚; sunny with rain in the afternoon

Feb 1--10˚ below zero tonite; snowed about 4 inches of snow last nite; sunny and cool all day

Feb 8--Buster and Bob Reynolds and I went to Little Hardwood-Teafields down the Creek and halfway down Ragged Lake. Came back across Bear Brook Beaver Pond. Saw a few cat tracks and two wolf tracks on Ragged Lake. Nice day to travel.

Feb 20--48˚, sunny and warm; about two feet of snow in the woods

Feb 27--Snowstorm in the fore noon, clear in the afternoon. I saw two chipmunks today.

Feb 28--2˚ below zero, clear and cold.

March 2--20˚ below zero, nice and sunny

March 3--26˚ below zero, suny fore noon, cloudy after noon; 3-˚ at nite

Mar 8--14˚ below zero, sunny and cold

Mar 10--6˚ below zero, cold raw wind, coldest day this winter

May 11--4˚ below zero, nice warm sunny day

Mar 12--36˚, sunny part of day, raini at nite

Mar 13--34˚, cloudy

Mar 21--nice warm sunny day

Mar 22-nice warm day

Mar 23--nice warm day

Mar 24--rain and cloud most of day

Mar 29--ice is broken up in the lake; 45˚ this morning.

We had to quit the log job the 24th of March; frost is going out.

April 4--It has been a rainy week.

The ice is all gone out of the lake.

April 17--snow rain and win. Almost a blizzard at times today.

April 20--About 6-8 inches of snow; plows out all day.

April 25--about 1 foot of snow; roads blocked to Chateaugay and Malone for a little while this forenoon. Sunny in the afternoon.

April 26--Snow is going fast; sunny most all day.

May 4--It has been rain or snow for the last 10 days, with the exception of today.

May 29--34˚, wet and cold. A few sunny days, frost a lot of mornings.

May 31--We have had a frost for the last three mornings. Not very many crops planted yet.

Oct 2--70˚, nice and sunny.

Oct 7--It snowed about 4" of snow last nite. The first snowstorm.

Oct 8--Nice and sunny; snow melted some today.

Oct 23--The weather has been dry and warm lately. Frost at nite and sunny daytimes. The woods is closed for hunting on account of need of rain.

Nov 6--12˚ this morning

Nov 22--The weather has been real nice for the last week. The last two days were real warm.

Nov 23--The weather took a sudden change today; it was cold and windy.

Nov 26--Thanksgiving day. It rained last nite a little. Snow in the air this morning. The lake is about as low as it can go. We need a lot of rain before the ground freezes up.

Dec 6--Cloudy. Temperature about freezing. No snow and not much rain yet.

Dec 14--two inches of snow and then it rained and took it all up.

Dec 15--ground is about covered wtih snow this morning

Dec 16--2˚ below zero this morning, clear and cold; lake froze over; last nite, about two inches of snow

Dec 17--8˚ below zero, cold and stormy

Dec 22--50˚, rain and windy

Dec 28--warm and cloudy

Dec 29--30˚, about 4" of snow in the woods

Dec 31--6˚ in the morning, 6˚ below zero at nite

1969

Jan 1 6˚F. Partly cloudy. A lot of wind.

Jan 2 2˚F. Clear, cold, partly cloudy, sunny at times, windy at times.

Jan 3 0˚F. Partly cloudy, clear at times, sunny part of the day.

Jan 4 6˚F. Partly cloudy. Sun is trying to shine. Turned out clear.

Jan 5 18˚F. Cloudy. Fine snow. Clear and sunny most of the day.

Jan 6 6˚F. Cloudy.

Jan 7 Cloudy, snowy all day.

Jan 8 8˚F. Cloudy, windy, snowy. Roads are bad.

Jan 9 8˚F. Cloudy.

Jan 10 16˚F. Partly cloudy.

Jan 11 6˚F. Partly cloudy, snowing a little.

Jan 12 10˚F. Sun is trying to shine, about 4-5 inches of snow came last nite.

Jan 13 14˚F. Cloudy. About 1/2 inch of snow last nite.

Jan 14 15˚F. Snowing. Got to go to Montreal.

Jan 15 16˚F. Barometer 29.7. Cloudy.

Jan 16 -8˚F. Sunny. There is between 3 and 4 feet of snow in the woods. A real good winter for snow.

Jan 17 30˚F. Cloudy. Snowing a little, fine mist and snow tonite.

Jan 18 34˚F. Cloudy. Snowing, rain part of day. Temperature at 10:30 PM 36˚F and still thawing. It has thawed quite a lot today.

Jan 19 28˚F. Cloudy. The roads are cleared off. There is a little fine snow in the air. A little wind.

Jan 20 6˚F. Barometer 29.8. Clear, sunny. There is about 18 inches of ice in the lake including about 1 inch of crust, 4 inches of water, 13 inches of ice, which isn’t very good. Real nice day.

Jan 21 8˚F. Clear, sunny. There is 3-4 feet of snow in the woods. It was a real nice day.

Jan 22 16˚F. Partly cloudy. Sun is going to get out. High temperature for the day 38˚F. Real nice day.

Jan 23 18˚F. Clear, sunny. Temperature went up to around 50˚F today. It is 40˚ at 10:30 PM.

Jan 24 40˚F. Cloudy, rain all day.

Jan 25 26˚F. Barometer 29.5 and rising. Cloudy. The snow went down a lot the last two days.

Jan 26 8˚F. About 1 inch of snow last nite. Clear; sunny part of the day.

Jan 27 -40˚F. Cloudy. Sunny most of the day.

Jan 28 -8˚F. Sunny, clear. 20˚F at noon.

Jan 29 26˚F. Cloudy, freezing rain. About 1/2 inch of snow last nite.

Jan 30 32˚F. Rain and freezing on all over the north country. No school in any of them. Rain all day. Temperature went up to 44˚F. Snow went down some more.

Jan 31 32˚F. It snowed about 1/2 inch last nite. Cloudy.

Feb 1 28˚F. Partly cloudy. Sun is trying to get out. Looks like it is going to be a nice day. Sun shone until noon and then it clouded up and snowed a little.

Feb 2 26˚F. Cloudy.

Feb 3 26˚. Partly cloudy. Windy with a little snow at times. Sun trying to get out. Wind out of the south east. Barometer 29 and falling.

Feb 4 6˚. Cloudy, windy, stormy. No school in local schools around today. Barometer down to 29. Road closed from Lyon Mountain to Dannemora.

Feb 5 -2˚. Cloudy, windy. Cloudy & cold all day. Around -6˚ at noon.

Feb 6 10˚. Cloudy, some wind.

Feb 7 6˚. Sunny, clear. Nice sunny day.

Feb 8 0˚. Partly cloudy. Sun is trying to get up. Nice day.

Feb 9 22˚. Cloudy, snowing.

Feb 10 8˚. Partly sunny. About 2 inches of snow last nite. Looks like a nice day, cool breeze.

Feb 11 10˚. Clear, sunny.

Feb 12 24˚. Partly cloudy, snowy and rainy.

Feb 13 22˚. Cloudy. About 1 inch of snow last nite.

Feb 14 -2˚. Sunny, clear, cold, and some wind.

Feb 15 8˚. Cloudy; cleared up.

Feb 16 10˚. Clear, sunny.

Feb 17 -2˚. Clear, sunny.

Feb 18 4˚. Clear, sunny.

Feb 19 22˚. Cloudy.

Feb 20 28˚. Cloudy, about 1 inch of snow last nite.

Feb 21 14˚. Partly cloudy. It looks as if it is going to shine.

Feb 22 16˚. Clear, sunny. Real nice day.

Feb 23 26˚. Clear, sunny. Clouded up in the afternoon.

Feb 24 30˚. Cloudy. Snowed about 1 inch of snow so far.

Feb 25 26˚. Cloudy, snowing.

Feb 26 22˚. Cloudy, windy, snowy. No school in local schools. Roads bad. There was about 1 foot of snowfall.

Feb 27 16˚. Partly cloudy. School today. About 4-6 inches of snow last nite; some claim up to 2 feet of snow.

Feb 28 10˚. Partly cloudy. Sun came out and was a real nice day.