Evening star., 1941-03-08
Further Snow
Or Rain Likely;
Traffic Unsnarls
10.6-Inch Fall Sets
Record for Month;
Many Cars Stranded

A snowfall which prompted COM
parsons TO the great SHOWS of the
past blanketed the Atlantic seaboard
from Virginia to Maine today, leav-
ing Washington with l0.6 inches OF
snow and the prospects of more to
come.
The Weather Bureau forecast light
snow or rain for the District tonight.
with slowly rising temperature to-
morrow and Monday. as the storm
moves slowly northeastWard.
Rising temperatures today and
forces of men with shovels and
plows were expected TO have the
city's streets clear by tonight.
Delaware, New Jersey, Eastern
Pennsylvania and Southern New
York bore the brunt of the fall.
where maximum depths of IA to 16
inches were recorded. Travel by
land. sea and air was impeded and
for the Seaboard States no respite
was in sight for more than "a hours.
Is Inches in New York City.
In New York City $500 men were
sent out to battle the record 16-inch
snowfall, which gave pedestrians as
much trouble as it gave motorists.
Temperatures remained in the up
per 20s.
AS the storm moved in from the
South early yesterday it also hit
Maryland and Virginia, where snow
ploWs were put into service to clear
the highways of drifts. At Rich
nond and Roanoke the snow reached
depth Of inches.
In Maryland the snow piled up to a
depth of u inches in Howard. Car
roll, Montgomery and Anne Arundel
| counties.
In the District, snow swirled down
from about $50 am. until II pm.
| yesterday to reach a depth of 1O6
inches. The fall was the heaviest
| on record here for March and was
! the second heaviest fall ever recorded
for a single day.
One-Day Record in 1886.
The one-day snowfall record oc-
CURED February 7, 1886, when. dur
ing a 24-hour period. snow piled up
to a depth of l44 inches. The
! heaviest continuous snowfall was in
1922, the year of the Knickerbocker
Theater disaster. Over a two-day
period the snow attained a depth of
% inches.
Old-timers, however, recall the
storm of 1899 as one of the worst
experienced in Washington. In two
| days in February of that year 201z
inches of snow fell on top of nearly
IA inches already covering the
ground. What made that storm
worse than most was the fact that
the temperature cropped to de-
greeS Immediately afterWard. Last
year, in January, fall of Ga inches
was recorded in one day.
The Weather Bureau said the
greatest previous March snowfall
occurred March 4, 1909, the day
President Taft was inaugWated 1t
fell to a depth of 98 inches on that
day.
Storm Warnings Raised.
Storm warnings were raised from
Eastport, Me, to the Delaware
Breakwater. Seventy-two scheduled
plane flights from La Guardia Field
were Cancelled last night.
Rain began TO fall shortly after
II o'clock last night, freezing imme-
diately. and by dawn today streets
and sidewalks were encrusted with
ice. increasing the hazard for mo-
toristS
The temperature dropped to % de-
grees at 10 o'clock last night, ris-
ing slowly throughout the night. At
$50 am. today temperature Of 33
was recorded.
The temperature is expected to
drop to about 29 degrees tonight,
before rising slowly tomorrow and
Monday. Monday is expected to be
fair and warmer.
Streets Again Crowded.
Streets again we're crowded with
passenger cars. buses and street cars
today. although many motorists
| needed radio and newspaper warm
ings to leave their automobiles at
. home and depend on public modes Of
) transportation.
Keefer Y. De Vine, so. Of 730
Rock Creek Church road NV. died
while cleaning snow off his car
, parked on the Washington Monu-
ment grounds shortly after mid
night, police said. He was pro-
(See WEATHER, Page A-109