Evening star., 1940-01-19
Bitter Cold Hits
East and South;;
Above Here
Chesapeake Boy
Faces Ice Blockade:
Zero Due Tonight

Inc DltJeTeSC COlO wave OF inc
winter penetrated deep into the
Eastern half of the United States
today, sweeping over Western New
York with storm that approached
blizzard proportions.
Temperatures sank below zero in
Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, Ken
lucky, West Virginia, and Pennsyl-
vania, and freezing temperatures
were recorded in every State in the
South, the Associated Press re-
ported.
The temperature here plunged
from "a degrees at midnight to 83
at $50 this morning, the coldest
weather recorded in the District
since February, 1886 A bright sun
had forced it up to II at o'clock.
Washington is expected to shiver
in zero weather tonight, the Wealth
er Bureau predicting a continued
drop in temperature late this after
noon. Tomorrow probably will be
fair with only slight rise in tenn
perature, officials said, and the cold
wave will continue Sunday.
Cold, Driving Wind Here.
A driving wind-in gusts of from
10 to 25 miles an hour-accompanied
the mercury's downward plunge
here. Fluffy snow fell for a short
time this morning. the Weather
Bureau recording half an inch. The
wind kept the open streets fairly
clear.
Sub-freezing and near zero TEN.
perature threatened to choke Ches.
apeake Bay with ice.
Two ice breakers were hard at
work in both the upper and lower
portions of the bay, trying to keep
shipping lanes open.
Capt. William E. Robbins. chief
inspector for the State Conserva-
tion Commission, expressed belief
fast-forming ice again would close
Cambridge Harbor and adjacent
waters, where a number OF oyster
boats are ice-locked.
The Baltimore municipal ice
breaker Annapolis radioed from the
mouth of the Sassafras River that
she was assisting the Ericsson Line
steamer Cadwalader.
lice is very heavy and forming
fast" the Annapolis reported.
Meanwhile, second icebreaker,
the Latrobe, proceeded to the lower
channels to render what assistance
she could to vessels battling the
foes.
Potomac River shippers reported
little trouble from ice thus far, but
expressed apprehension over pros
poets of a continued cold wave
choking the channel, particularly
in the Indianhead and River Point
areas.
!, A sturdy tug broke a path before
dawn today from Georgetown to
Hams Point for a Lone Star Ce.
ment Corp, barge, but had no diff
ficulty cutting through the ice. OF.
ficials observed that the ice still is
loose from the thaw several days
ago.
Slight Traffic Tie-Up.
Arlington Memorial and High
way Bridges were opened longer
than usual for the ice-breaking
tug. causing slight tie-ups in early
morning traffic moving into the city
from nearby Virginia
One overnight weather casualty
reported to police was Henry Ash
ton, 18, colored, 1922 C street Sc,
whose clothing was set ablaze by
fire he built to keep warm on a road
side in Falls Church, Va. The youth
was treated for leg burns at Emer-
gency Hospital and transferred to
Gallinger in an undetermined con-
dition.
Emergency crews of the Capital
Transit Co. were dispatched to car
track switches throughout the city
before daybreak to keep the nova
BILE connections thawed and in work.
ing order.
In all, 500 extra workmen were
sent out to facilitate movement of
buses and streetcars. Eighteen trucks
sanded streets used as buslines and
(See WEATHER, Page A-3)