RebelYank87
Cadet
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2014
I have often seen in Civil War literature, both fiction and non-fiction, this idea that the weather at the Battle of Gettysburg was unusually hot and humid. The scientific data, however, doesn't bear this out. In fact...the data tells us the weather during parts of the battle, as well as the days leading up to it, was unseasonably cold. The Rev. Dr. Jacobs of Pennsylvania College took measurements and made observations of the temperature/weather conditions throughout the battle and this is what we have in his report:
July 1, 1863: High - 76, Low - 72 (Cloudy skies)
July 2, 1863: High - 81, Low - 74 (Mostly cloudy skies)
July 3, 1863: High - 87, Low - 73 (Partly cloudy skies)
And then the weather leading up to the battle was even cooler:
June 25, 1863: High - 63, Low - 51
June 26, 1863: High - 63, Low - 60
June 27, 1863: High - 67, Low - 61
June 28, 1863: High - 68, Low - 63
June 29, 1863: High - 72, Low - 66
June 30, 1863: High - 79, Low - 68
All of this information can be found at the link below:
Weather at Gettysburg
So my question is, how did we go from unseasonably cool weather to the history books telling us that the weather was "unusually hot"?
July 1, 1863: High - 76, Low - 72 (Cloudy skies)
July 2, 1863: High - 81, Low - 74 (Mostly cloudy skies)
July 3, 1863: High - 87, Low - 73 (Partly cloudy skies)
And then the weather leading up to the battle was even cooler:
June 25, 1863: High - 63, Low - 51
June 26, 1863: High - 63, Low - 60
June 27, 1863: High - 67, Low - 61
June 28, 1863: High - 68, Low - 63
June 29, 1863: High - 72, Low - 66
June 30, 1863: High - 79, Low - 68
All of this information can be found at the link below:
Weather at Gettysburg
So my question is, how did we go from unseasonably cool weather to the history books telling us that the weather was "unusually hot"?