Some calendric information on the IGY

The comment on my last post was: "did you ever explain why the international geophysical YEAR was 1.5 years long? As Jerry Seinfeld would say, what's the deal with that?"

So, here is the deal, and some other chronological information about the IGY.

Why did the IGY "year" last 18 months, from July 1, 1957 to Dec. 31, 1958? A NOAA history of the IGY says: "Scientists timed the IGY to coincide with an expected peak of sunspot activity and several eclipses. An 18-month long IGY would allow scientists to sample all of these solar events, as well as conduct other timely research."

The expectation turned out to be correct, as you can see in the top graph of sunspot numbers below from the WDC-SILSO (Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations). Note the highest number in the entire sunspot number record occurs during the IGY in 1958. This was solar cycle 19 (solar cycle 1 began in 1755); details without smoothing are shown in the bottom graph.

Yearly mean sunspot number (black) up to 1749 and monthly 13-month smoothed sunspot number (blue) from 1749 up to the present

Unsmoothed solar cycle 19, during the IGY (https://weather.plus/solar-cycle-19.php)

NASA instructs us that the Sun is a huge ball of electrically-charged hot gas. As this charged gas moves, it generates a heliomagnetic field. This magnetic field goes through a cycle of oscillating amplitude, called the solar cycle. (By the way, I often use a hotlink rather than quotes when I borrow text from another source.) After each solar cycle of 11 years or so, the Sun's magnetic field flips polarity, i.e., the Sun's north and south poles switch, somewhat like geomagnetic reversals on Earth (although these take place only several times per million years). Then it takes about another 11 years for the Sun’s poles to flip back again. The solar cycle affects activity on the sun's surface, such as sunspots which are caused by the Sun's magnetic fields. Solar activity also radiates into space and towards Earth via the solar wind (not the SolarWinds hack), so is responsible for "space weather," geomagnetic disturbances, and the aurorae in the Earth environment.

Solar activity is related to at least four of the areas of focus of IGY study: World Days [when measurements are mad around the world] and communications; geomagnetism; aurora and airglow; ionosphere; solar activity; cosmic rays.

The following IGY calendar is from a book in my library (one day I will have a catalog to share), IGY: Year of Discovery, Sydney Chapman, University of Michigan, 1959, p. 103). You can also find this calendar online here. 

The calendar shows:

World Meteorological Intervals - special weather observations made on each of 10 consecutive days, every three months; 

Regular world days - three per month when extensive (worldwide) multidisciplinary measurements were made;

Regular world days at monthly new moons;

Unusual meteoric days;

Regular world days with unusual meteoric activity - e.g., the Perseid meteor shower, Aug. 12, 1957;

Days of total solar eclipse - Oct. 23, 1957; April 19, 1958; Oct. 12, 1958.

The IGY favored synoptic measurements, i.e., when similar measurements are made at the same time in different locations to better characterize the global environment. 

Note that extra months in the calendar are included before and after the already 18-month "year" (please don't ask me why). In addition, the success of the IGY led to an extended follow-up period continuing through 1959 at a reduced level of activity, called the International Geophysical Cooperation.

As per the IGY, space weather measurements not made continuously  are concentrated and coordinated on specified days, published annually as archived here by the National Geophysical Data Center.

Even before the IGY was over, it was clear to scientists working in the upper-atmosphere disciplines that certain observations should be continued at least through the waning period of the solar cycle, and that others should be repeated at solar minimum. Thus it was decided to conduct another full-scale international program in those disciplines during the following  solar minimum. Thus emerged a new international enterprise, officially designated the International Years of the Quiet Sun, which took place during 1964 and 1965 (International Years of the Quiet Sun, 1964-65, Martin A. Pomerantz, Science, v. 142, 1963, p. 1136-3). You can see the low sunspot number for that period in the graph above. There was no U.S. postage stamp issued for this, although there are IQSY covers from the U.S. and  IQSY stamps from other countries.

I thought of closing with a Seinfeld clip, maybe on Newman, since he was a postal worker. Instead, I came across this music video of John Newman singing Love Me Again, which I remember enjoying in the breakfast room of the Sultan Royal Hotel in Istanbul in 2014. It has nothing to do with anything I should be writing about. I bet my editor, who was there with me, won't remember this.

Happy Washington's Birthday - President Eisenhower and the IGY

Thanks for the comment on the last post, dutifully answered via another comment.

Officially, today's federal holiday is Washington’s Birthday, only colloquially known as President’s Day. Technically it is a celebration of the first president of the United States. So I guess we don't have to honor all presidents if we don't want to.

But it does make me think of Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower, the first president I remember, and president during the inception and execution of the IGY. 

Thanks to Matin Modarressi who recently passed along some links related to his very interesting APS presentation on stamps and U.S. foreign policy, which I will return to in another post. One document he shared was the press release of Eisenhower's remarks on the opening of the IGY.

You can see part of Eisenhower's comments in the video below. Also, at 1:45 into the clip, you can see solar flares that look like those that are part of the IGY stamp design.

Both the news piece above and the longer video below about Eisenhower, science, and the IGY (produced by Eagle Communications with the help of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum) note that Earth satellites were expected from both the U.S. and the USSR during the IGY, although launch dates were not announced ahead of time.

I do have a few Eisenhower postage stamps from "back in the day," meaning my casual stamp collecting era from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. They have been in my stock book for so long, without special care, that they are kind of stuck onto the pages. Any conservation tips on how to free them without too much damage?

Scott #1393 single and plate block, issued in 1970, one of five U.S. Eisenhower stamps

Eisenhower's regard as a president has generally improved over time. For what it's worth, you might wish to pursue the sortable and data-rich Wikipedia compilations of Gallup poll ratings of modern presidents, and/or historians' rankings of past presidents.

U.S. IGY stamp - description in The Bureau Specialist

After my previous posts on the U.S. IGY stamp as described in the Scott Catalog and in the Postal Bulletin, I thought I would add a description from the monthly journal of the United States Stamp Society (mentioned in a previous post), which today is called The United States Specialist, but in 1958 was The Bureau Specialist. As far as I know, this is the only detailed article published in a journal/magazine that focuses solely on this stamp. There are other articles on various IGY stamps and covers that include this stamp - I'll post on those soon. I also look forward to an upcoming article on the IGY stamp in Charles Posner's series, Cataloging U.S. Stamps of the 1950s, in the American Philatelist.

The USSS describes itself as

a “non-profit” volunteer-run association of collectors devoted to the study of postage and revenue stamped paper produced for use in the United States and U.S. administered areas. 

Its monthly publication, the The United States Specialist, is "the world’s leading journal of modern U.S. philately."

Thanks to the USSS for permission to reproduce the text and images of this piece. If you are a member, you can download the original article from its archives.

Again, I have some explanatory footnotes at the bottom, things I learned from the article. 

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The Bureau Specialist
Vol. XXX, No. 2 FEBRUARY, 1959 Whole Number 348

GEOPHYSICAL YEAR ISSUE

3¢: BLACK 8: ORANGE—ISSUED MAY 31, 1958

SOL GLASS¹

On November 2, 1957 Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield² made known a list of nine selections³ for commemorative postage stamps as recommended by the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee⁴ to be issued during 1958, one of these being a stamp honoring the International Geophysical year. It was initially planned to issue this stamp on December 31, however, it was deemed advisable to move the issuance date forward to May 31⁵. This information was announced January 22, 1958 and on March 29, 1958 details of the design were made known.

Design

The design of this stamp⁶ is based on a photograph of the sun and depicts an area of intense solar activity such as occurs periodically and is among the phenomena being studied during the 18-month period of the International Geophysical Year. Super-imposed above the solar disk and the fiery solar prominences emanating from it is a segment of Michaelangelo’s famous fresco “The Creation of Adam”. Across the top of the stamp is the wording INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR I957-58", arranged in two lines, and across the bottom is "U. S. POSTAGE 3c”. All lettering is in white face gothic.

Ervine Metzl⁷, the designer of the stamp, explained that “In the small confines of a postage stamp we have endeavored to picture a man’s wonder at the unknown together with his determination to understand it and his need for Spiritual inspiration to further his knowledge.”

Mr. Metzl has been a member of the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee since its inception in 1957. He attended the Art Institute in Chicago, where he was born, and studied in Munich, Rome, Paris and London. He is presently a free lance artist with studio at 20 Park Avenue, New York, and enjoys high repute as a book illustrator and designer. He is a teacher, editor and writer — having taught at Columbia University — and is a past president of the Society of Illustrators.

First Day Ceremonies
Ceremonies inaugurating the release of the International Geophysical Year commemorative stamp were held in conjunction with the “COMPEX 1958” philatelic exhibition at the Hotel LaSalle in Chicago, at I0:00 A. M., May 31, 1958, with Ernest Kehr⁸, International Secretary of COMPEX and Philatelic Editor of the New York Herald Tribune, presiding. The Post Office Department was represented by L. Rohe Walter⁹, Special Assistant to the Postmaster General and Franklin R. Bruns, Jr.¹⁰, Director, Division of Philately. Mr. Walter delivered the principal address and said in part:—

Many stamps have paid tribute to the famous men and women of the United States and to the great events of our nation’s history and its natural wonders.

This International Geophysical Year stamp we dedicate today is unique—and its uniqueness, it seems to me, gives it added significance. The theme of the International Geophysical year is knowledge.

Its focal point is the sun, during an 18-month interval that includes a period of maximum solar activity which strongly influences many of the natural phenomena.

Its ideals are the reflection of the hopes of men and women of good-will for a better world of tomorrow based on international understanding and peace.

At the conclusion of his address Mr. Walter presented souvenir albums, each containing a sheet of the new stamps, autographed by Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield, to a group of distinguished persons. Before presenting the albums, Mr. Walter stated: “Let me say that this nation is deeply indebted to the National Academy of Science and its National Committee for the International Geophysical year for its tireless planning and effective coordination of the United States program, consistent with the overall program of the International Council of Scientific Unions.”

Statistical Data
Issued May 31, 1958 at Chicago, Illinois. 3c Black and Orange. Perf. 11 by 10-1/2. Stamp size 0.84 by 1.44 inches. Printed on the Giori Press from 200-subject, electrolytic, steel intaglio plates, dry printing, on pre-gummed paper¹¹. The 200-subject sheets were perforated on the flat sheet (L) perforator and cut into post office panes of 50 stamps each, arranged ten horizontal by five vertical rows of stamps to the pane.

Designed by Ervine Metzl of New York City. Modeled by Charles R. Chickering¹² and William K. Schrage, Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Engravers:—Vignette, Richard M. Bower. Lettering and Numerals, Robert J. Jones. First printing order March 19, 1958, 120,000,000. First delivery April 29, 1958¹³ to Hawaii and Puerto Rico. 

Five models were prepared by the Bureau of Engraving, the accepted model was approved by Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield on March 7, 1958 and the Die Proof was also approved by him on March 19, 1958.

[Five models proposed for the IGY  stamp; top right was the winner]

Plate numbers used in printing, 25978 and 25985, to press, April 14, 1958; 25990 and 25993, to press, April 21, 1958; 26010, to press, May 6, 1958.

First Day sale May 31, 1958 at Chicago, Illinois. Covers cancelled 397,000, Stamps sold 1,011,664.

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1 According to the American Philatelical Society Hall of Fame (APSHF), Sol Glass (1893-1973) was one of the greatest experts of United States 20th century stamps. His book, United States Postage Stamps 1945-1952 (1954) received national and international awards. He was a member of the first Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1957 to 1961, during which the IGY stamp was released.

2 Arthur E. Summerfield was the 57th Postmaster General, a political appointment by President Eisenhower. He presided over a modernization of the Post Office Department, including the creation of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee in an effort to encourage citizen involvement in postal policy.

3 The U.S. issued a total 18 commemorative stamps and three airmail stamps in 1958.

4 The Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee is appointed by the Postmaster General. The group recommends subjects for future stamp issues, made with all postal customers in mind, including stamp collectors.

5 May 31, 1958, was 11 months into the IGY, which began on July 1, 1957. December 31, 1958, was the last day of this 18-month "year."

6 See my earlier post. 

7 Metzl designed the stamp with an original drawing on which the stamp was based. I'll have more to say about him in a later post.

8 Ernest Anthony Kehr (1911-1986) was one of philately's most distinguished spokesmen. Over a forty-year period, Kehr presented more than 2,000 radio and television programs promoting philately. He wrote several popular books of which The Romance of Stamp Collecting (1947) was a philatelic bestseller.

9 L. Rohe Walter (1899-1966) was special assistant to Postmaster General Summerfield. He was the liaison between the Post Office Department's Stamp Advisory Committee and philatelists (obituary, New York Times, 4/24/66). 

10 Franklin Richard Bruns Jr. (1912-1979) was widely known for his nationally syndicated stamp column that appeared in some 30 newspapers between 1932 and 1972 (was this the one I read in the Washington Evening Star newspaper as a youth?).  He was also on the first Citizens Advisory Committee (1951-1957). He became curator of the Smithsonian Institution's philatelic collection in 1951, and was the first curator of the Cardinal Spellman Philatelic Museum (1957-1962).

11 The last episode of the 1996 season of the sitcom Seinfeld, The Invitations, had George's fiancée Susan die after licking the toxic flaps of too many gummed envelopes, since George had opted for the cheapest envelopes for their wedding invitations. The episode has been linked anecdotally to an increase in worries about the health risks of licking gummed paper, and it has been speculated that it may have contributed to the growing popularity of self-adhesive stamps in the United States. First introduced unsuccessfully in the U.S. with the 1974 Christmas stamp, self-adhesive stamps were reintroduced in 1989; by 2013 almost all U. S. stamps issued had become self-adhesive. Nicholas Lombardi (Self-adhesive stamps; in R.A. Juell, L.R. Batdorf, and S.J. Rod, eds.; Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting, 2nd ed.; United States Stamp Society, 2016; p. 437-445) suggests that "the introduction of self-adhesive postage stamps in the United States could be regarded as being the most important stamp production innovation of the past century."

I recently purchased this inexpensive, beautifully produced, highly informative 750-page tome (I'll refer to it as EUSSSC)

12 Model here refers to what is also termed an essay, an image of the stamp design considered for use, including alternate versions of a particular design, or an alternate design altogether. Models can be suggested by engravers based on how a design will best translate into a printed stamp. Model can also refer to the final approved illustration of a stamp (EUSSSC, p. 375, p. 575, glossary). Charles Chickering was a noted stamp designer and engraver, employed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing from 1947-1962. As I have been reading more about him, it's clear he is deserving of his own post at a later time.

13 Note that the first delivery date of the stamp to post offices was a month before the official issue date. Although stamps should not be sold before the issue date, stamps have sometimes mistakenly been sold before the FDOI.

U.S. IGY stamp - the 1958 Postal Bulletin announcement of its issuance

This post is devoted to the listing of the U.S. IGY stamp (Scott #1107) that appeared in the U.S. Postal Bulletin to announce the issuance of the stamp, and to explaining some of what is found in that listing. Realizing all these Bulletins can be found online has yielded one of several philatelic resources I have recently learned about. I've previously introduced this stamp by focusing on its listing in the commercial Scott stamp catalog.

The U.S. Postal Bulletin has been issued since 1880 as a publication of the Post Office Department (POD) and later the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). The purpose of this publication has been to itemize and explain the services provided by and the business of  the USPS. For decades the U.S. Postal Bulletin was published daily except Sundays and holidays, but every two weeks in recent years  (US Postal Bulletins and PL&Rs).

The verbatim listing is given below. Terms in red are further explained in the footnotes below the listing.

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POSTAL BULLETIN¹

INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION FOR POSTAL EMPLOYEES PUBLISHED WEEKLY 

LXX1X Washington 25, D. C , Thursday, April 24, 1958—Eight Pages 20080

All Postal Installations 

International Geophysical Year Commemorative Postage Stamp

The Department² will issue a 3-cent stamp honoring the International Geophysical Year through the Chicago, Ill., post office, on May 31, 1958. 

This stamp will be 0.84 by 1.44 inches in dimension, arranged horizontally, and issued in sheets of 50. It will be printed on the Giori rotary sheet-fed press³ in two colors, back [sic, should be black] and orange, and perforated on an L-type machine. An initial printing of 120,000,000 has been authorized.

The design of the stamp is based on a photograph of the sun and depicts an area of intense solar activity such as occurs periodically and is among the phenomena being studied during the 18-month period of the International Geophysical Year. Superimposed above the solar disc and the fiery solar prominences emanating from it is a segment of Michaelangelo's famous fresco The Creation of Adam. Across the top of the stamp is the wording International Geophysical Year 1957-58, arranged in two lines, and across the bottom is U. S. Postage 3¢. All lettering is in white-face Gothic.

Ervine Metzl, the designer of the stamp, explained that "In the small confines of a postage stamp we have endeavored to picture a man's wonder⁴ at the unknown together with his determination to understand it and his need for spiritual inspiration to further his knowledge."

Stamp collectors desiring first-day cancellations⁵ of the 3-cent International Geophysical Year commemorative stamp may send addressed envelopes, together with money order remittance to cover the cost of the stamps to be affixed, to the Postmaster, Chicago 7, Ill ⁶. An enclosure of medium weight should be placed in each envelope and the flap either turned in or sealed. Envelopes submitted should be of ordinary letter size and each must be properly addressed. An envelope must not be sent for return of first-day covers. The outside envelope to the Postmaster should be endorsed First Day Covers Geophysical Year Stamp. Collectors should refrain from requesting hand cancellations⁷ since covers will be machine canceled⁷ so far as practicable. Orders for first- day covers must not include requests for uncanceled stamps.

For the benefit of collectors desiring stamps of selected quality for philatelic use, the 3-cent International Geophysical Year commemorative stamp will be available at the Philatelic Sales Agency⁸, Post Office Department, Washington 25, D. C., on and after June 2, 1958. To insure prompt shipment, mail orders to the Agency should include no other stamp issues. The Philatelic Sales Agency does not service first day covers.

Postmasters at first-class post offices⁹ requiring this issue in lots of 25,000, or multiples thereof, will requisition it from the Office of Industrial Services, Bureau of Engraving and Printing¹⁰, Washington 25, D. C. Those offices requiring less than 25,000 may obtain this stamp by submitting requisitions to their regional distributing office.

Postmasters ordering stamps from regional distributing offices should submit requisitions about May 19, 1958. Regional distributing office postmasters should submit requisitions promptly upon receipt of this notice.

Postmasters shall post a copy of this notice on the bulletin board¹¹ and give information to the press regarding the issuance of the 3-cent International Geophysical Year commemorative stamp.—Office of the Special Assistant to the Postmaster General.

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¹ Postal Bulletins since the year 2001 can be found at the U.S. Postal Service web site. Archives of older Bulletins from 1880-2013 can be found at the Digitized US Postal Bulletins and Postal Laws & Regulations web site. For example, to find the Bulletin announcing the IGY stamp, go to the latter web page, enter geophysical as a keyword in (1)Select Word Search Type, click the search button and select the 1958 issue among the search results.

² The Smithsonian Magazine provides a brief history of the USPS. Or, get a more detailed PDF brochure of its history produced by the USPS. The Post Office Department became the United States Postal Service in 1971. The Postmaster General was a member of the cabinet from 1828-1971.

³ I erred in my earlier post when I said that the IGY was the fourth multicolored stamp to be printed using the Giori press. It was the fifth, also preceded by Scott #1042, the 8¢ Statue of Liberty (redrawn). I was fooled because in the Scott catalog, a stamp series listing groups together all stamps in that series, including later stamps in a series listing that began at an earlier date. This stamp was part of the Liberty Series of definitive ("ordinary" stamps, as opposed to commemoratives) stamps, issued from 1954-1961, and was a few pages earlier that other 1958 stamps in the Scott catalog.

⁴ As here, language pertaining to the IGY written at that time definitely tends towards being male-biased. I hope to talk in a future post about professional and amateur women participants and interest in the IGY.

⁵ This is the method I used to order FDCs in the 1960s, such as the one below. To order first day covers today, you can buy the new stamp at your local post office, affix it to a SASE (with the stamp), and sending it within 120 days of the date of issue to USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services. Or you can order an unaddressed ready-made cacheted cover from a dealer or cachet company (or eBay, like I do). 

First day cover acquired by mail from Roswell, NM (but a domestic rather than an alien cover), Robert Goddard, Scott #C69 (C means airmail in Scott catalog-ese)

⁶ During World War II, when thousands of experienced postal employees left to serve with the military, the Post Office Department began a zoning address system in 124 large cities to facilitate mail sorting. Delivery zones were identified by one or two numbers between the city and state. Most of the cities used the system until 1963, when the Zoning Improvement Plan (ZIP) Code was inaugurated (USPS; The United States Postal Service: An American History; Publication 100, p. 54).

⁷ "A machine postmark or machine cancellation is a postmark or cancellation on mail that is applied by a mechanical device rather than with the use of a handstamp. Nearly all machine-cancellation devices apply both postmark and cancellation simultaneously. While some mail is cancelled using handstamps, machine cancellation is ubiquitous, and in the industrialized nations the vast majority of mail is cancelled by machine" (Wikipedia, Machine postmark).  

⁸ The Philatelic Agency was officially established on December 1, 1921 to allow the Post Office to expand its commemorative stamp program, keep track of  sales, help fund the Post Office Department, and encourage stamp collecting. It existed for over four decades. Recent stamps can now be ordered online at USPS.com.

⁹ The only thing I could find on what this means is in the aforementioned USPS American History booklet (p. 38):  "large (first class) Post Offices." Maybe those 124 large cities from above?

¹⁰ "In 1894, an agreement between the Postmaster General and the Secretary of the Treasury made the Bureau of Engraving and Printing the exclusive printer of postage stamps" (USPS American History, p. 108). "The Bureau printed its last postage stamps in 2005. Since then, all postage stamps have been printed by private firms" (ibid., p. 109).

¹¹ I just got my first artifact of a Post Office notice that was to be displayed on bulletin boards. I'll talk about its significance another time.

Post Office notice for the 1964 Amateur Radio Operators commemorative

Antarctic climate, Lancaster climate and snow storm, Groundhog's Day (repeat)

One of the major accomplishments of the IGY was the establishment of a number of weather stations around the Antarctic continent, allowing the collection of much more weather data from that continent, and the synoptic (simultaneous over space) determination of intracontinental Antarctic meteorological conditions, as well as changes over time. From the snapshots of meteorological conditions that comprise weather, we can also infer climate, a summary of weather conditions indicated by averages and variability.

One common climate classification scheme is the Köppen or Köppen-Geiger system, which is summarized nicely in Wikipedia. It depends on seasonal patterns of temperature and precipitation. I always found this system a great framework for teaching about climate.

Wikipedia summarizes the major climate regimes as follows:

Group A: Tropical climates. This type of climate has every month of the year with an average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F) or higher, with significant precipitation.

Group B: Dry climates. This type of climate is defined by little precipitation.

Group C: Temperate climates. This type of climate has the coldest month averaging between 0 °C (32 °F) (or −3 °C (27 °F)) and 18 °C (64.4 °F) and at least one month averaging above 10 °C (50 °F).

Group D: Continental climates. This type of climate has at least one month averaging below 0 °C (32 °F) (or −3 °C (27 °F)) and at least one month averaging above 10 °C (50 °F).

Group E: Polar and alpine climates, This type of climate has every month of the year with an average temperature below 10 °C (50 °F)

Antarctica is a Group E climate, as shown in the temperature graphs below, none of the which show any monthly average temperatures above 10°C.

Temperature curves for various sub- and Antarctic meteorological stations

Even though Antarctica is heavily glaciated, it is technically a desert. Antarctic locations get 4-8" of precipitation a year. A desert is said to have less than 10" of precipitation a year, so Antarctica qualifies as the largest desert on Earth. Over long enough periods of time, as the scant annual precipitation still exceeds water loss by runoff and evaporation, the water will freeze and accumulate as glacial ice. Global warming may change all that, but I'll leave that topic for another time.

As shown in the Köppen-Geiger map below, climate regimes are related to latitude, proximity to coasts, hemispherical asymmetries in ocean configurations, and other large-scale meteorological patterns. 

Global map of Köppen-Geige climate types

The more detailed climate designation in Lancaster is Cfa. The C is the temperate described above, the second letter indicates the seasonal precipitation type, while the third letter indicates the level of heat. So Cfa is a humid subtropical climate, with: the coldest month averaging above 0 °C (32 °F); at least one month's average temperature above 22 °C (71.6 °F); at least four months averaging above 10 °C (50 °F); no significant precipitation difference between seasons. This is shown in the Lancaster climatograph below.

Lancaster climatograph, with average daily temperature lows and highs (left y-axis scale), and monthly (rain) precipitations (right y-axis scale)

I am thinking about weather and climate because today we're in the midst of a sizable snowstorm here in southeastern Pennsylvania. According to NOAA, we have had about 1/2" of water (rain)-equivalent precipitation (as snow) in the last day.  At 10" of snow per inch equivalent of water, that's about 6" of snow (just verified that is about right with a ruler in the back yard). Another 6-12" of snow is predicted for today and tomorrow, so a winter storm warning is out.

View out my front door, mid-afternoon

This suggests that for Groundhog's Day tomorrow, our local groundhog, Octoraro Orphie, would not see its own shadow under cloudy skies, and not be scared back into his den. So folklore suggests we'll have an early Spring. I wouldn't complain if that turns out to be true, even though the science behind groundhog-based weather predicting is obscure to me. Local ceremonies with Orphie are canceled this year due to covid, as is the local food-beer fest and parade at Valentino's Cafe that I attended for the first time last year.

Groundhog's Day celebration, 2020, Valentino's Cafe, Lancaster, PA

Of course, there is that other groundhog in west-central Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil. You know, we might call 2020 the year of Punxsutawney Phil: every day was almost exactly the same.

Hope this post wasn't too "dry"!