Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-08
RAGE OF THE STORM
The Poor, Railroads and Street Cars
Suffer Most.
ACTIVE BLIZZARD LAST NIGHT
Railroad Traffic Almost Entirely
Stopped by Heavy Drifts.
IN 9TH ER S E G. T l 0 n S

The pledges of the weather bureau have
been kept.
This is the blizzard which they promised:
1t is here 1t began to arrive yesterday.
and at midnight 1t had come in. 1t has
brought business largely to standstill.
Travel was at first impeded, then inter-
rupted, and, lastly, 1t was suspended
Early yesterday evening all the horse-car
lines doubled their teams. and put forth
strong efforts to prevent a blockade OIL
their reads. Sweepers were Kept on the
move, but as midnight approached the
grooves of the rails were SO packed that
the wheels could not keep the track. This
was especially true at all curves. Very few
people ventured out. The theaters were
very slimly patronized, and several enter
tainments scheduled for last night were
postponed. Only the hardest of people. or
those forced by necessity, dared brave tho
hardships of the night. The same condi-
ton of affairs prevailed during the day. A
large percentage of ahsentees are reported
at all the government offices and the pri-
Vatc stores and shops. No shoppers are
stirring. Everything is as quiet as a vii
lage.
The lowest point reached by the official
thermometer at the weather bureau was
Zero This was touched at 6 o'clock, and
the mercury remained stationary till 3
o'clock, since which hour it has risen
steadily. Although the weather is as bad
as any Washington has ever experienced
during the lifetime of the weather bureau,
yet 1T Is not the coolest snap of recent
years by many degrees. February, as a
rule. in this latitude, is not q cold month.
In nearly every year since 1877 the mini
mum temperature has been reached IN
January. The coolest weather which
Washington has known since 1872 was on
December 81, 1880 and January l. 1881.
On the first day the mercury went down
to 13 degrees below and on the following
day sank to II. The minimum temperature
of each year for the past twentythree
years is as follows: 1872, January 81, 3
above; 1873, January 80, below; 1874, jan
uary 30. above, 1873, January 10, 3 be-
low; 1876. December and 10. above;
1877, January 3, and 5. below; 1878.
January 8, zero; 1879, January 3, zero;
1850, December 81. 13 below: 1881, January
I. IA below; 1sS2. January "a. s above: 1855.
January %. D above; 1884. January 26, .
above; 1885, January p and %, 10 above;
1856, January 13 and II. l below; 1887, jan
uary 3. above; 1885, January % and %.
December u and %. Is above; 1891. De-
cember 49, 10 above: 1892, January II. 4
above; 1893, January 1S. below; 1894, De-
cember 20, q above; 1925. February 3, 3
below.
In Other Places.
At 8 am. today reports from all the
stations Of the weather service show that
the coldest for the corresponding period in
other years was registered at Norfolk.
Charlottee, Raleigh. Hatteras. Wilmington.
N. c.; Augusta, Savannah, Jacksonville
Titusville. Jupiter and Key West, Fla;
Atlanta, Tampa, Pensacola, Mobile. Mont
eomery, Meridian, Vicksburg, New Orleans,
Shreveport, Fort Smith, Little Rock, Pal
estine. Tex; Galveston, San Antonio, Cor
pus Christie, Tex; Memphis, Nashville,
Chattanooga, Knoxville. Louisville. Indian
apols, Cincinnati, Columbus. Ohio. ard
Parkersburg, w. Va. AT a number of these
points. especially in the far south, Florida,
Texas and Louisiana, the mercury went to
g. lower point than was ever before reg
istered. The thermometrical readings at
the various stations at 8 am. today are
given below. The minus marks preceding
figures Indicate the number Of degrees be-
lou