The San Francisco call., 1898-03-17
.CRIPMEN DODGE SNOWY SPHERES Snowstorm and Hilarity in the w eStern
 Addition. Frosts Do Unexpected Damage in Various Sections of
 the State. Peculiar Phases of the Weather Make Forecasting Difficult-Deep
 Fall at Summit.

A white mantle of sleet came down from the clouds yesterday and fooled the weather prophet along with the rest, Not all sections of the city re- ceived the same treatment, for only few light flakes of snow fell ln the downtown region, and these melted as soon as they touched the pavement, put in the Western Addition, Presidio Heights and Russian Hill districts the fall was heavy enough to remain on the ground for some time.
 At about 10 a. m. mixture of snow and hail began to fall in that part of the city lying generally between Hyde street and Central avenue, and kept coming down until in some places the depth was two inches. All the roofs of that part of the city soon assumed the appearance of having been white washed, and the small boy was in his element. On the Jack son and Clay street lines the grip men had all they could do to dodge snowballs, hurled by hilarious urchins. Even as far eastward as the Powell street line, in the North Beach region, the gripmen came in for an occasional missile The first intimation the peo- ple in the martS of business had Of the fact that the western part Of the city was experiencing snowfall was when Western Addition cars came in with roofs and platforms covered with the white material. Then the news boys crowded round, scooped up great handfuls of snow and made things warm for pedestrians, especially those laboring under the burden of silk hats. Out in the snow district even the wom en took a hand in affairs, and those who Jumped aboard cars and went out there to have a little fun found that being bespattered with the mud and slush of tenth-rate snoWstorm was not so much fun after all.
 The weather phenomena observed all over the State were fully as peculiar as the local variations. At Eureka and Red Bluff such peculiar contradiction in the weather was observed as heavy showers during the night and killing frosts early in the morning. Scattered showers fell north of Tehachapi and around San Diego, though nowhere else in the southern part of the State.
 In Napa and Sonoma counties there were severe frosts. Sacramento came in for a light touch, and along the coast from Gilroy south to San Luis Obispo the weather was freezing. It was also pretty cold in a few spots in the San Joaquin Valley.
 It showed heavily in the mountains north and east, and at a. m. the snow at Summit was fifty inches deep and six inches in depth in Blue Canyon.
 Forecast Official Hammon, who fur nished the data given in the preced- ing, says the damage done by the frost throughout the State is not likely to be great on account of the changeable- ness of the weather. Apricots, al monds and some varieties of peaches will suffer the most.
 The fall of sleet on Presidio Heights is easy of explanation. MT. Hammon states that current of cold air passed between the nimbus cloud and the earth, and the rain became frozen as 1t passed through 1t. The hail stones were very large, and are reported to have broken in pieces as they hit the hard navamoptS