The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-01-03

The snow. cold and other trimmings
of the recent polar weather gave II. T..
Paine, the local weather observer,
plenty of opportunity to exercise the
duties of his office. He has the pedi-
gree of the storm down pat" His
records show the particulars as accur-
ately as do the records of the Rogue's
Gallery reveal the characteristics of its
criminal patrons.
The snow began to fall Saturday
morning, the last day of the year. 1t
drifted so much that measurements
were made with difficulty, but Mr..
Paine's official report will show the fall
to have been 5 inches.
1t is peculiar fact that last week
Friday with it's 81 degrees above zero,
the warmest day in December, was fol-
| lowed by a drop to Is degrees below
zero at o'clock yesterday morning, a
total fall of 72 degrees in 81 hours, or
more than one degree for each hour.
During Sunday the mercury ranged
| from 1 degree below to 8 degrees above.
1t was highest at 8 o'clock in the after
noon and then began to tumble. At
! o'clock p. m. 1t registered 1 degree be-
| low and continued to drop until 1t was
| Is degrees below the zero point at a.
| m. yesterday. That was the last fiirt
| of the mercury's meanness, for it then
| began to go upward until by noon yes
| terday the weather was quite bearable
| and during the afternoon it was pos
| sible to even drive with comfort.
COLDEsT IN TEN YEARS.
| The cold was the most intense in ter
| years. The nearest approach to it was
| during the memorable week of colo
| during February in 1894, when the ther-
| mometer registered 13 degrees below
zero on one day of that week. The
coldest days of last winter were Jan
| 4, Feb. 2 and Feb. 4, on each of which
the thermometer showed . degrees be-
low.
AS result of the cod, many plumb
ers did not get the holiday they eX
pected yesterday. Early in the morn
ing urgent calls for their services wer,
received at the homes and offices o
plumbing proprie,ors, and before nool
it was the exception and not the rul
to find a plumber idle.
Many water pipes were frozen, ant
another common cause of trouble wer
the burst water-backs in kitchen
ranges. In scores of houses kitchel
fires were started without a though
) of frozen boilers and many a water
back was blown out.
Reports from up the valley indicat
that the cold was a little more intens
than in Scranton, but not too muc
reliance is to be placed on the vagarie
of authorities which have not stood
government or other proper test. |
was cold, though, and no mistake, an
the statement that the mercury regis
tered 16 below zero at Peckville at
a. m. may be correct.
ON THE POCONO.
5 1t cannot be learned that there wa
any greater degree of cold on the Pc
como than in this city. A telegrap
= operator on duty Sunday night a
, Tobyhanna, a point almost on tn
: mountain summit, .s authority for TIL
Y statement that twelve degrees belo1
, zero was the point lowest reached dul
D ing the night.
Actual pity was Ieit for street raj
way motormen and others who had I
, begin work in the open air just befor
daylight and at an hour when tn
e temperature was lower than at an
e time within ten years. Frost bite
= noses, ears, fingers, cheeks and toe
- was no uncommon thing among ii
+, trolley men up to an hour we'll int
the morning, when the weather bega
= to moderate. Several of the men wei
: bitten so hardly that they had
= stop work,