Philadelphia weather diary

This weather diary kept by an unknown resident of Phildelphia, Pennsylvania, contains daily entries, June 1, 1836, to July 31, 1842, recording the temperature and wind direction along with brief comments on the weather. There are monthly rain measurements for 1825 through 1842 recorded "as per gauge kept at the Pennsylvania Hospital" as well as newsclippings documenthing especially severe weather events.

The daily entries in the bound, 124-page diary are arranged in the form of a chart recording, from left to right, the month, day of the month, day of the week, temperature readings at 9 am, 12 pm, and 3 pm, brief comments on the weather, and wind direction. After 1838, wind direction is recorded in its own column as opposed to being part of the weather commentary. After the entries end in 1842, there is a chart recording the rainfall in inches for each month of the years 1825 through 1842. The readings were obtained from the rain gauge kept at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. The back of the book contains news clippings dating from January 28, 1839, pasted onto the pages and laid into the diary documenting a particularly violent and destructive storm . There is also an entry dated July 13, 1841, copied from a book kept by a Josiah Coates and describing a thunderstorm in which there were lightning strike fatalities.