Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-05
SNOW STORM MOVES EAST
Local Forecast Official Says Worst is Over
for Tbs Vicinity.
'RohIsEs WARMER WEATHER THURSDAY
Snow Drifts Are several
Feet Deep, the weather bureau
Instruments Record Total
Fail Only seven Inches

While holding out no promise OF imme-
diate and complete relief from the rigors OF
winter. Weather Forecaster Welsh says tho
worst Is over" for Omaha. By this he
does not mean that Omaha may not be
struck by another severe wind and snow
storm before the winter is over. for he ex-
plains that after a disturbance Of such mag
nitude as that Of Tuesday and Tuesday night
the recurrence OF lesser disturbances is but
natural, and therefore no immediate cessa-
ton OF fostilities in the weather line will
be guaranteed Just now. The coolest
period OF this storm for Omaha was dur
ing Tuesday night and as late as I o'clock
yesterday morning, when the mercury slid
down to 8 above. The wind travelled fast
est between 9 and 10 Tuesday night.
IT may surprise the man who raised his
window shade yesterday and found the
snow stacked UP against his house three
or four feet deep to know that only seven
inches Of snow fell Tuesday, or 1t may frus-
trate the thoughts of the motorman some
when he learns that, despite his inability
to qualify for a slow mule race Tuesday
and Tuesday night. nothing but a little
zephyr. bowling along at thlrty-six miles
en- hour. was standing in his way. instead
of the hurricane which he swore was tear
ing on 200 miles a second.
FnctS from weather Bureau.
But these are facts. The local weather
ONCE records q precipitation OF seven inches.
the heaviest this or last year. and a wind
whose maximum velocity was thirty-six
miles an hour.
The snow drifted terribly" says the
weather man.
OF course It did. For this reason Mr..
Welsh explains that the distribution could
not have been even. and therefore tho
heavy snow will not be Of such benefit to
the farmers over the state, although it
will help some.
THE blizzard has passed eastward and
now centers over the great lakes" says
Mr.. Welsh. THE low barometer Tuesday
centered over Oklahoma, strange as It may
seem, and moved in a northeasterly dlrec-
tlon. The snow was general, and yet
the heaviest fall vas from the Missouri
river east. No great precipitation was
reported from the west or northwest, where,
however, the temperature was much lower.
TIL snow is still falling in Chicago and
the lake region and the wind has attained
a velocity of forty-eight miles an hour,
which indicates that the blizzard is in
creaSing in severity the further east it
travels. This intensity may be expected
for the next forty eight hours.
Lively Up the valley.
This morning, while the wind practically
has subsidized in Omaha and immediate
vicinity, up the valley 1t was ducking along
in spots at forty miles per hour and in
one or two places was doing even a little
better. Morning reports also show a con-
tinuation Of the extreme cold in the
northwest. In places in Montana the
temperature is 26 below"
t--
cfice from the south or southeast. This
leads Mr.. Welsh to believe that conditions
down there are serious. He concludes
that wires must be down as a result Of
~vevere storms, else his usual daily reports
would come in.
The fall Of seven inches OF snow Tuesday
exceeds by two inches the heaviest pre-
lclpitation of last winter and at no time
last winter did Omaha experience such a
storm as that which prevailed Tuesday.
Trains Behind Time.
Not a train on any Of the ten lines con-
verging in Omaha arrived on time yester-
day and yet there was no serious results
from delays caused by the extreme weather
conditions. Passengers trains were reported
from twenty minutes TO nine hours late.
The Union Pacific Jared worse than any OF
the other roads. It's No. 6, from the west,
came in Wednesday nine hours behind
time. as a result OF the three days storm
in Wyoming. other Union Pacific passen-
ger trains ranged from two to eight hours
late. All the trains coming from Chicago
were reported twenty minutes to two hours
late. due mostly to the bad weather in Chi
cago. The Elkhorn succeeded in getting It's
train down from the north without bad re-
suits, All were a little off time, but in
consideration OF the extreme weather con-
ditions prevailing it did well. The Bone
steel train came in several hours late, but
because It was held until daylight to avoid
snow drifts or other accidents.