Daily Kennebec journal., 1918-02-06
TUESDAYS WEATHER
PROVES THE LIMIT
Cold and Wind Combine to Produce
Most Uncomfortable Day Of Winter
Trains Delayed, Schools Snow
bound and Travel in General Is
Blocked

Trans Delayed, SCHOOLS SnoW-
bound and Travel in General Is
Blocked
No doubt there have been days dur
ing the winter which should now be
showing some signs of giving up the
Arctic weather which has characteriz-
ed it since last Thanksgiving time. but
which is not. when the thermometer
ran lower than it did Tuesday Morn
ing, but for an out and out freezing
and marrow chilling day, and day
that was the acme of everything that
was disagreeable and uncomfortable
in the way Of weather. Tuesday was
certainly the limit. 1t was almost i'm
possible to be comfortable anywhere,
for with the zero temperature that
was in evidence throughout every min
ute Of the day, and with a strong
northwest wind which blew the cold
into every nook and crevice, that little
word Of seven letters which we find in
the dictionary and which spells o m
f 0 + t, had absolutely 10 meaning
\ noticeable feature in connection
with Tuesday morning was its mark d
difference from the morning of the
preceding day. On Monday morning
people awoke to find a temperature in
the outer air varying from 20 TO 80
above zero. which was n marked
change from that of the average morn
ing of the winter Of 1911-1S. and some
were inyeigled into the belief that
there was at last to be a letup in the
cold weather Of the past 10 weeks But
there they We're deceived. for before
the day was over the mercury began
to drop again into the same old rl,t
and before 9 o'clock that evening it had
fallen TO eight degrees below zero
And it continued to fall all night 50
that when Tuesday morning arrived ii
brought with il Il temperature Of from
l. TO "a below zero in various parts Of
The city, and without doubt there were
places in the vicinity OF Augusta where
the mercury ran quite bit lower. on
ly they did not happen to be reported
And in addition to that, the wind which
had reen blowing all night Monday.
Was still going strong. and kept goina.
strong all through the day. The wind
and zero temperature combined to d.
things. and that they did things. par-
ticularly in the way Of driving clouds
Of snow everywhere. blocking high
ways and railroads alike. was not long
in becoming evident.
Maine Central Trains Delayed
The first evidence that the wind ana
the cold We're getting in their work
was on the Maine Central trains. the
night trains in particular Train ~,
tho Pullman going east from Augusta
at 1.l0 \. NJ. was bothered Ly the
S.tn Il
did not come along until about o'clock
Tuesday morning. The next Pullman.
No. s. which is que to leave Augusta
at 30J A. NJ. for the west, found snow
banks over east and when she finally
left AUGUSTA for Portland and Boston
it was 1906 in the forenoon Another
train from the east which was late
was Train 81. which goes west from
Augusta at 9.36 A. NJ, but which on
Tuesday morning was an hour late.
But the train which was up against
it the worst was Train l21 the second
eaStboun1 Pullman, which under nor
NAL conditions is due ot leave Angus
ia at 2.2J A. NJ. When a train is more
than l. hours late on the Maine Cen
tral it loses it's right, and that was
tho fate of 121 Tuesday morning. This
train left Boston at 3 o'clock Monday
night, but had troubles Of its own with
the Srowdrifts on the line of the Bos-
ton & Maine, and in addition to that
got its locomotive off the irons some"
where near Biddeford, SO 'tis said, and
hung up Tho result was that the train
did not reach Augusta until $50 Tues
day afternoon. and then not as Train
121, bnt as an extra. a ploW came over
the line in the afternoon from Portland,
running as the first section of No."ll,
shortly after T. NJ. and was follow
ed by the train mentioned above. rum
ming as second section of No. II. The
real No. II. which goes east from Au-
gusta at 247 T. NJ, did not come along
until $50. The next train east, No. %.
which leaves Augusta at 1.31, was about
a half hour late.
Rural Schools Snowbound
Another victim of the wind and snow
combination was the list of rural schools
of the city. and soon after o'clock Tues
day morning they reported no sessions.
Up on the West River road the Cony
school was put out Of business by drift
ed roads in general. but i'll particular. so
it was reported, by the fact that on Mon.
day a big tank sled of the Standard Oil
Co became stuck in the road and was
left there all night, thus blocking the
road effectuaIly to travel.
The Jewett school on the Burns road
and the Hewins school on the North Bel
fast road shared a similar fate, the roads