Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-01-26
The SNOW BREAKSA RECORD.
GREATEST FALL THIS YEAR IN HIS
TORY OF WEATHER BUREAU.
Had the Storm of Yesterday Morning
Been Accompanied by Wind 1t
Would Have Been Almost a
Winter Cyclone.

Beautiful, sir; the most beautiful storm
area 1 ever saw in my life exclaimed
Colonel ConnOr, the weather observer, yes
terday afternoon as he surveyed his wealth
er map.
Why. so magnificent? Why. It could not
have been more perfect" he declared with
as much evident satisfaction as an artist
who surveys one Of his own productions.
The outlines of the storm when placed on
paper are so symmetrical. The whole
storm was in such complete harmon with
the atmospherical laws of cause and ef-
feet"
The big snowstorm which was raging
when Kansas City woke up yesterday
morning started Monday afternoon in the
Panhandle district of Texas. 1t was a
genuine Southwestern with none of the frlDS
missing. amounting to a cyclone in mid
winter. The storm center was like a cart
wheel which moved across the country
from Texas to the Allegheny mountains,
rotating parallel TO the earth. When placed
on the weather map the lines showing the
dlrectlon OF the wind were all IN circles,
showing that the wind blew from all direc-
lions towards the center of the storm area.
giving II its rotary motion in its clean
sweep across the country. The storm
struck Abilene, Tex, Monday evening. Yes
terday morning at Z O'Clock it was venting
Its full force at St. Louis, while its effects
were already being felt in a doWnpour Of
rain over Ohio.
Monday afternoon and evening Kansas
CITY had a warning of the approaching
storm in the dense clouds and occasional
slight drizzles of rain. Yesterday morning
at : O'Clock 1t began raining and in a short
time the water was coming down in tor
rents, making the snow which fell Satur-
day, sloppy slush. All 3 o'clock the rain
changed to sleet and then to snow. At
times the snow gave place TO rain again,
but at 4 O'Clock the snow was falling in
big flakes. thick and fast. The snow adj
hered 10 everything. The roofs of houses,
trees, telephone wires. and. in fact, every
thing the rain had touched Caught the
snow. and when the city awoke the sight
was a beautiful one. while the snow was
still falling. Underfoot it was as disagree
able as nature could make ii, but overhead
everything was white. Telephone wires
were like snowy cords. the trees lining the
curves toward the earth with their white
burden. The temperature was above the
freezing point until . o'clock, and the snow
continued falling until 10.
But few enjoyed the beauty of the city
as ii lay wrapped in stiffness and its fairy
like blanket of snow. Everything seemed to
go wrong with the street railway Compa-
mics and the telephone companies despite
all their precautions.
The weather bureau notified the street
railway companies Monday evening of the
approach of the storm. and the usual ar
engagements We're made for battling with
the elements in the early morning in order
not to delay the traffic. The snow sweep
ers on the Metropolitan system were out
and at work at 4 o'clock, but the storm was
more IMAM cOulQ De hanuled. Inc heaNy
fall of rain and snow covered the tracks
with deep slush which the brooms could
lot sweep clear. TIL slush and snow filled
up the brushes until they were like solid
rollers. and then they became unmanage-
able. After large forces of men Were put
TO work and the sweepers had finally. made
the rounds the cars We're started. but il
was not until noon that all the lines were
in perfect running order. The Ninth street
guard rail in the curve at Eighth street and
Grand avenue. The water and snow had
swelled the, earth between the granite
blocks until the slot rails were nearly
closed. A grip car struck the tight slot.
tearing the bolts which held the guard
rails from their places, and the guard rail
became entangled in the grip. The line
was closed for over an hour. A similar &C
cident, due TO the same cause, occurred at
the loop on the east end of the Twelfth
street division. and that line was blocked
nearly an hour.
The Grand avenue system was frequently
blocked for short intervals by the snow
and slush packing on the board tenders
which run close to the ground in front of
the trucks. The sweepers could not clean
the tracks down to the granite blocks. and
the tenders were continually catching up
the wet snow and pushing 1t along in front
of the cars until II became SO packed as 20
stop them entirely until the snow was
cleared away.
The street railway officials all declared
that il was the hardest snow storm 10 fight
since the heavy snow of 1884.
The telephone company experienced more
trouble even than the be, street railway a com,
ported to Manager Burk as being out OF
order. In many places In the resident dis.
tricts of the city where the wires have not
been placed under ground the poles an6
wires were down. Downtown the wires
were broken in many places by the snow
falling from the roofs of the buildings ant
breaking them where they entered the
buildings. The toll system was almost en-
tirely out of order yesterday morning. The
wires were broken in several places be
tween here and Liberty and a part of ths
line to Topeka was down. The circuits Il
--1- Ct Innap arI nIa ,r.Ar
also deranged. but all are expected to bt
in working order by to-day.
Kansas City escaped the wind that char
acteriZed the storm as a cyclone. Thu
weather bureau received a report from
Springfield. Mo. yesterday morning tina
the wind was blowing there at the rate o
iorty-eight miles an hour. the stronges
wind that has been reported In this section
in two years.
this winter breaks the record of all pre-
vious years since the weather bureau Wa
established. The total snowfall this seasol
has been 49, inches, while in the winter o
'aS-4. when the deepest snow fell at on
time. only % inches was the record of tn
bureau for the entire winter. Yesterda,
morning IL inches of rain fell before tn
SNOW began falling. The snow which fel
was 6 inches deep, but owing to the war;
temperature and the wet base. IL was onl
about 4 inches deep in the streets. Jan
nary. this year. has been in many respect
temperature thus far has been 9h2 deg
warmer than the average daily tcmpera
ture of the preceding years. The max
mum temperature yesterday was 81 deg
and the minimum %.
The predictions are that 1t will he abou
II deg. above zero in Kansas City thi
morning. and remain about that tempera
lure during the day. The cause of the 10,
temperature after the protracted spell q
comparatively warm weather will be. aC
cording I. the weather observer. the ma,
ural consequence of the disturbance of III
atmosphere at high attitudes by the storr
of yesterday morning.
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