The evening times., 1899-02-10
SHIVfRING IN THE
ICE KINGS GRASP
No Abatement of the Uncom-
Portable Frigidity.
Thermometers Disagree and Record
Individual Opinions.
The Weather bureau Says One Be-
low Zero, Hut Private Observa-
tions Make 1t Tweive.

The reign OF the polar King ls not yet
broken in this city, the statements of the
expert prognosticators at the Weather Bu-
reau to the contrary Notwithstanding. To-
day will probably hold the frigidity record
for some years 10 come. The readings this
morning showed a temperature of de-
grees below zero, l degree colder than
yesterday. Only twice before has the ther-
city, and then there was not such heavy
mantle of snow. This weather is unpre-
cedented in the history of Washington.
There is wide diversity in the readings
of the thermometer in different parts of the
city. Five thermometers in different parts
of the city last night and this morning
registered different degrees of discomfort.
A thermometer in the southwest showed
that the mercury had dropped TO IS de-
grees below zero at Il o'clock last night.
The Weather Bureau stated that only ]
degree below was registered there at
O'Clock, and that this was the lowest dur
ing the entire night On Columbia Heights
this morning the mercury stood at II de-
grees below by s o'clock, and lower tenn
perature was registered at Fifteenth and
II Streets northeast. Twelve below seems
10 have been the average throughout the
city, and this figure was also reached at
the navy yard, where an observation was
taken at Z O'Clock this morning. The OBJ
servers at the latter place laugh at the
Weather Bureau figures. The official
Weather Bureau thermometer is swaddled
in felt and like materials, they say, and
could not give a correct statement if it
wanted to.
The forecast for today is fair and colder,
moderating Saturday morning followed
probably by snow.
Either snow or intense cold has had a
firm grip on this city for ten days and the
people are about getting used to the
changed conditions. Water pipes all over
town froZe early in the week and the
scarcity OF that necessity has caused great
hardship and much suffering. In the
houses where the mains did not freeze the
water was kept running throughout the
day and night and as a consequence the
pressure in the higher parts of the city is
very low, in some places there being no
water at all. Many waste pipes have also
frozen and there has been no way of dis
posing of the small quantity of water that
is left in the pipes after il has been grudg
ingIy used.
The snow with which the streets are
covered does not seem disposed TO melt and
serves 10 make matters worse than they
would otherwise be. Weather authorities
contend that il is well for the city that
the snow does not all melt at once If
such a thing should happen they say the
town would be flooded and thousands of
dollars worth of merchandise thereby en-
dangered. The city was never in more
danger of a flood than at the present time,
and it would be well for the cold weather
| 10 remain and allow the snow to melt
/ gradually.
These same conditions prevail in other
parts of the country. The cold belt extends
! from Oklahoma 10 the Atlantic Coast and
| as far south as Tampa, while to the north
| the lowest temperature for the Eastern
| section was reached in southern New York.
| The coolest spot on the map was Duluth,
Mimi, where the thermometer yesterday
| registered 90 degrees below. This is Eot
very cold for Duluth, however. The Zenith
City of the Unsalted Sea, as il was poeti-
| cally referred to by a Representative in
Congress whose misfortune caused him TO
| spend a summer there, has experienced
such a low temperature that the thermom-
| eter refused to register it.
Last night was one of the coldest in the
| history of Washington. Very nearly every
! thing freeZable froZe, and that which did
| not CONCEAL was rendered so cold that il
was useless. Sleighing parties gathered
| wherever there was an incline, and :ndulg-
! ed in the merry sport of which the resi-
dents Of this city get so little, and skating
was also in order on the river and various
ponds and creeks throughout the District.
| The coachmen and cabmen who were COM
PEELED 10 be out in the weather were bum
| died up until they resembled bales of hay
and the features Of the motormen were
| never distinguishable.
Late in the night genial looking gen.
| tleman was seen vending his way down
| Fourteenth Street northwest bundled VI
| in heavy ulster, fur cap, heavy old-fash-
| icned comforter and a pair of heece-lined
! overshoes. He had on his hands an inn
mense pair of fur gloves and the tip of his
nose, which was just visible beneath the
| visor of his cap, was blue with the cod
| To complete the picture he carried In his
right hand large palm leaf fan which hC
welded vigorously and with great effort
! He attracted considerable attention as he
| walked along scorning to take comfort
! ably-heated street car and il was noticed
! thai he came all the way from U Street
| TO Pennsylvania Avenue. When he reach
| ed the Avenue be turned into one of the
| theatres and was lost sight of by the peo-
Pile who had watched him great way OF
/ his journey.
The cold wave still covers the entire
! country east of the Rocky Mountains, ex-
! cept Florida. where there has been rise
in temperature from 10 10 20 degrees. Alb.
| normally low temperatures continue in the
| Ohio Valley and from the upper lake re-
gion westward. a minimum of 81 degree!
below zero is reported at White River
Canada, and the zero line now reaches the
! southern borders of Tennessee and Vir.
ginia. Parkersburg, W. Va, reports tenn
perature of &c degrees below zero, Is de
/ grees lower than any previous record, ant
| Pittsburg is degrees below zero, s degrees
below any previous record. In the Ohit
and middle Mississippi valleys, western
upper lake region and middle Atlantic
! States the temperatures are from l to 1,
degrees lower than any previous tempera
/ ture reported for the first decade of Feb
! ruary.- In the central West, however
| there has been a rise in temperature from
| 10 to 20 degrees.
DEATH IN THE ICY BLANKET
!