The times., 1899-03-08
MENACED WITH ZERO WEATHER
How n Biizznrd Took the Prophets
by Surprise.

How Blizzard Took the Prophets
by Surprise.
All was quiet along the Potomac on Mon
day night when the weather man retired
, with a fair weather prophecy on his bu!le-
tin board. When he awoke yesterday
morning the bulletin board had been blown
down and lay buried beneath three inches
| of snow The cause of all this was the
| unannounced arrival of a small blizzard,
which proceeded to do business without
regard to Weather Bureau rules.
| Nor were the residents of the city less
surprised than was the prophet. They re-
tired leaving dry, clean streets and
fair weather and awolle to wade through
| snow and shoulder against strong winds.
The streets were blocked with snow and
| the sidewalks were piled deep in drifts.
| To add to the general discomfort, how! :
ing wind tore along the streets and whirIed
around corners, carrying awnings, sign
boards. and wearing apparel in its path.
Trnti;c Intcrfered " i,h.
1 The blizzard had fanked the Weather
| Bureau and captured supplies in the way
of signal stations and was 4 surprise party
! to the Capital Street cars were stopped
| for time and no attempt was made to
run according to schedules until noon.
! Hundreds of people were prevented from
getting down town to stores and offices and
many were missing from the departments.
, Wires were blown down and tangled up
| and for time it looked as though the
storm might linger and emulate its prede
! cessor.
| Fortunately the blizzard abated and by
noon the city had recovered. The high
| winds continued to make progress a mis-
| cry. The temperature was 6 degrees above
zero early yesterday morning, but the mer-
curry rose to 30 degrees during the day,
! and remained at that point until midnight,
when il dropped to 26 degrees.
High Wind Velocity.
] The wind guage registered forty-five
miles an hour last night, and the gaze con-
tinued in force all night. This was the
highest velocity in the country except in
the New England States. Storm signals
have been posted along the coast.
cold wave is predicted to follow the
I storm. The weather men say that the
temperature will fail to point c,ose to
zero, and cold weather will prevail for a
few days The indications for today are
I fair and colder, high nortnwesterly winds,
diminishing tonight. Cod wave signals
are displayed in Pennsylvania. New j .rsey
/
1t was Impossible to operate street cars
in the District for. several hours in the
early morning and only the diligent work
of snow plows and sweepers opened the
, lines for traffic. Many subm blnites were
prevented from coming into the city until
late in the day. The electric cars be-
tween Alexandria and this city were un
able to enter the city last night. and pas
sensers were carried by bus line from
! the Long Bridge.
The River Normal.
The river still remains normal at this
point. a fall of ; 4 feet is reported from
Harper's Ferry. Reports from Cumberland
state that the river is high and has sub
+ merged the lowlands. There IS strong
current in the Georgetown channel, bu:
| the water is no higher than usual.
The public schools were all open yester-
| day and the attendance was but slightly
| affected. 1t is expected that the snow will
not last any time, and that everything Will
| again proceed smoothly today The storm
has passed off into the Atlantic and the
high winds Will diminish today and bring
| clear skies and colder weather The
weather men say that this storm is the
| last of the season. unless, of course an
other blizzard travels in this direction.
street Cleaning Delayed.
No attempt was made by the District TO
remove yesterdays snow. This was be-
cause prevailing conditions favored more
snow. and Warner Stutler, Superintendent
| of Street Cleaning, deemed 1t bad policy
to open campaign against the icy cross
walks until there was some assurance that
| the storm had passed His funds for re-
| moving snow, represented by the 81 500
! left out of the big snow cleaning appro-
priation. very limited.
Very little can be accomplished with so
small balance. Every cent OF the 81, 800
would be required to open the cutters and
sidewalks properly. and Superintendent
| Stutler says he is not desirous of exhaust
ing the balance in that way. Another snow
last evening would have placed him in the
predicament of having the city in the same
! condition, and had he spent the balance
yesterday money would have been left
for the work today. He thought it would
be better to wait until today before begin
ming operations.
Economy Necessary.
| Economy will have to be the guiding
star of the Street Cleaning Department in
its crusades against this or any subsequent
fall of snow this winter Congress has ad-
| iourned and this fact makes It impossible
| for the District to secure any additional
appropriations. Matters will have TO be
! arranged and the work so managed that
the most good can be done with the 81. 800
at hand.
| When Superintendent Stutler inaugurates
work today only cutters and crosswalks
will be opened. No attempt whatever win
be made to remove snow from IL. centre
of streets on account of the cost of such
work. He regards the opening of cutters
| the more imnOItaut part of the work II
seems that it is absolutely necessary that
all cutters should be opened so that the
water may reach the sewers quickly and
easily when it melts.
THE RFoRGANIzED ARMY