Grandma’s Diary (1942)

GRANDMA’S DIARY*
WEATHER INFO FROM JANUARY TO JUNE 1942
CONTRIBUTED BY NANCY NEWCOMER

January:

  • 6  – 7 below coldest morning this winter
  • 8 – 20 below and that was as low as our the. would go
  • 11 7 below a little warmer today
  • 13 7 above real nice
  • 18 it is real warm acts like it might rain
  • 19 rain & fogg

February:

  • 2 blew bad clear & cold H 10 – L 1
  • 5 our deepest snow this winter 6 in Harvey made paths
  • 6 sleeted rained then snowed certainly slushy
  • 7 all froze up today
  • 14 the wind blew cold & the sun looks like storm
  • 19 clear & sunny but cold & windy
  • 23 it snows off & on sometimes quite blustery

March:

  • 8 my its warm & muddy the roads are pretty bad
  • 10 we washed it was a nice drying day
  • 11 warm & in creasing cloudyness
  • 14 it rained & snowed & rained again
  • 16 we had thunder showers
  • 18 Carl was stuck for the 2nd time

April:

  • 3 a lovely spring day
  • 9 snowing very hard evening keep running & its slushy but the snow is 6 in deep
  • 10 still snowing the trees are laden down
  • 15 warm room fire out
  • 16 warm fire out doors open
  • 25 a warm day we saw a bluebird
  • 27 a cold rain in the morning but it warmed up swell
  • 29 too warm for comfort heard whippor will

May:

This was one of the nicest Mays I have ever seen the trees & lilac couldn’t of had more blossoms & the air was filled with their perfume until the killing frost came

  • 1 warm showers
  • 2 nice day
  • 11 a killing frost froze ice
  • 19 sprinkly all day
  • 20 drizzly & dark all day
  • 25 cool dreary

June

  • 1 rainy rained all day long
  • 2 another rainy day
  • 3 rained in the morning
  • 4 it was nice today but we had a shower
  • 5 a nice day no rain

 

*Commentary by Carol Dorward:

Grandma would have been 53 years old at the time of these (her first journal) records which she kept on a McNess 1942 calendar. She frequently had more to say than would fit in the little box with the date, so she wrote on the back of the page and in the margins as well. After this “diary,” the rest were written in a tablet or a book. The entire collection of Grandma’s diary entries hold volumes of information treasured by her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Perhaps others in the family should consider journaling their life like Grandma did and, thus, be a blessing in a similar manner to future generations!