57 Years of Weather in Philadelphia

Organized by month so that every January from 1790 to 1847 can be compared easily, this meteorological account provides a lively narrative of each month, detailing the average temperature and general impressions. The author recorded the temperature and weather conditions at sunrise, 2pm, and 10pm each day with the intention that “this volume will be, to many, a valuable book of reference, in order to ascertain how the weather was in years long since gone by.” Weather records that takes into account 30 or more years are especially helpful in determining long-term changes in the climate.  

The month on view, August 1793, when “there was much damp, foggy, and very sultry weather,” recounts the yellow fever outbreak during which approximately 11,000 were infected and 10%, or 5000, of the 50,000 inhabitants died. It was not understood until much later that the disease was transmitted by mosquitos and not from person-to-person contact and so, as this page details, “fences were built across the streets to prevent persons from going into the infected part of the city.”  

Charles Peirce
A Meteorological Account of the Weather in Philadelphia: from January 1, 1790, to January 1, 1847, including Fifty-Seven Years
Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1847 

CO2 PPM in 1847: 286.5

Additional Information

For an explanation of the different definitions of “weather” and “climate”: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/weather-vs-climate.

A digitized copy of this public domain book is available here: https://archive.org/details/meteorologicalac00peirrich/page/14/mode/2up.