The Washington times., 1912-01-11
WEATHER BUREAU
PREDICTS 4 REAL
l BLIZZARD TONIGHT
Heaviest Snowstorm of Sea-
son Will Sweep City In
Afternoon or Evening.

This afternoons spell OF sunshine
promises to- be OF but. brief duration
. for the Weather Bureau predicts the
city will be swept by the heaviest snow
storm of the season late this afternoon
or early tonight.
There has been a slight let-up in the
cold wave which has made the city
shivers for the last. thirty-six hours.
! This. however, will only serve the pur-
pose Of giving the unprepared an op-
portunity to get ready for real blia-
zard.
For District OF Columbia there will be
unsettled weather with snow tonight
and Friday; continued cold: lowest tenn
perature tonight about IS degrees;
moderate to brisk eastrly Winds,
The sunshine, which appeared late in
. the forenoon. did much toward maxi
Ing traffic easier, and the rays made
more inroads into the slippery asphalt
than was possible by Superintendent
Paxton and his force of street cleaners.
Mercury Drops to ~ Degrees.
4 Al o'clock this morning. mercury
cropped to II degrees above zero. Not
until o'clock did 1t show, any signs
of moving upwards from that point.
Despite the length Of the present cold
wave the charitable organizations are
finding 1t possible to care for the needy
with more dispatch than they at first
thought, possible. Nearly every demand
made on any one of the several public
and private charities Is being met.
Miles upon miles OF ice.glazed streets
stul make locomotion for vehicles
horses and pedestrians a perilous un-
dertaktng, Navigation on the Potomac
Is almast at q standstill, and only those
steamers and boats fitted with steol
noses highly tempered are being able
to 'plcw their way through the heavy
coating which covers the river.
For4twe4hours-from 6 to o'clock this
mornins-mercury dropped to II degrees
above zero. The same low Temperature
was reached once before during the
night-at o'clock, Up and down, from
u degrees above to g above. the fluid
midnight 1t was &c above. In an hour
II grew degrees colder. At 2 O'Clock
ii dropped to 10: at 3 O'Clock, to n.
During the next hour II rose degrees.
Thermometers Are Smashed.
The cold weather record for Duluth
and that section of Minnesota was
smashed yesterday and likewise many
Thermometers by the 50-degrees- below
zero temperature. All thermometers not
carefully protected In Cook. small
town near Duluth burst as result OF
the cold.
In Albertan. Canada, temperature has
been from - to Sc degrees below zero
for several hours.
The iirst coastine accident of-the VIM
Ter occurred last night In First street.
when Francis Sanford. fifteen years old.
Of 1901 Eighth street northwest. was sc.
rtously injured. ana -Ic4tife Austin, OF
:n09 First street northwest, narrowly es-
capped injury. Two sleds collided, throw
ing the occupants TO the street. The
Sanford boy was injured about the
shoulders and bach.
Best Skating of Year.
The best skating of the season should
be- rossible today. The Tidal Basin. for
the first winter IN years. Is cleared OF
snow for great distances, and the
smooth surface forms an ideal place for
rapid and fancy skating. Last night
there were hundreds Of skaters there.
The Icy coating Is stronger today than
it has been at any season for four
years.
At the bird pond at the Zoo, the lake
at the Soldiers Home grounds, at Chevy
Chase. the skating is good. Because or
the thick, coating of snow on the ice
which covers the potomac, II is almost
impossible to skate on that watercourse.