Evening star., 1948-01-26
5-DegreeC Cold
Is Season Low;
TrafficChoked
6 Below at RiverdoIe:
Relief to Be Slight;
More Snow on Way

Season record breaking 5-de-
gree temperature, tamping mors
firmly Saturdays 5-inch snow,
put a crimp in Washington traf-
flc today as thousands of persons
left automobiles at home and
overtaxed the transit system.
Reporting record number Of
cars Serviced, American Automobile
Association officials estimated 10000
motor vehicles had become stalled
since midnight Friday.
Tumbling from II degrees at mid
night, the temperature was pegged
at 5 above on the Weather Bureaus
National Airport thermometer at
7:24 am.
That was the coldest minute re-
corded here since it was / above ON
December 81, 1912, and equalled the
all-time record cold for January rs.
set in 1905 The previous low mark
this winter was the 9 degrees Of
yesterday.
Riverdale Has Below.
The coolest official suburban tenn
perature reported to the Weather
Bureau was below zero at River
dale, Md. Bethesda registered ons>
degree higher.
Other recordings were / above at
Bancroft and Annandale. Va, zero
at Huntington Terrace, Va, and 8
above at Clarendon, Va.
AS work of clearing a portion of
the Districts principal streets went
ahead, Sanitation Supt. William A.
Xanten was faced with the prospect
of more snow tomorrow. The
Weather Bureau saw some coming
from the Gulf area and expected 1t
late tomorrow, but could not yet
determine how much would fall
Some relief from the cold was in-
dicated for today and tonight.
Sunny skies figured to boost the
mercury to 80 degrees this after
noon and tonight's low point should
be IS degrees. the Weather Bureau
said.
North and South Shiver.
The North Central States were In
for their third cold blast of a week.
Some. points in North Dakota, first
to feel the sting, reported 10 to Is
below The East and South con-
tinued to shiver in weather that has
brought so deaths.
Another storm, that which may
bring snow to the District, developed
in the Southwest and pelted Texas
with snow and freezing rain as 1t
moved eastward toward the South.
Term States.
Perhaps Is per cent more riders
than usual jammed Capital Transit
Co. buses and streetcars this MORN
ing. In addition to cars stalled by
the cold and snow, many were left
home by workers who found the
packed streets not to their
liking.
A power failure at Eighth street
and Pennsylvania avenue Sc.
delayed streetcar traffic in that
area for time about am. Other
streetcars were crippled when cur
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lodged in power slots.
Difficulties Are Overcome.
Some buses became stuck on
tracks and others were hampered
when chains caught in streetcar
slots. For the most part, however,
the transit system functioned with
out serious trouble.
Snow clearance operations had
reached the point where the routine
plowing of $40 miles of streets was
completed and the trucks returned
to regular service Mr.. Xanten re-
ported about 10 miles cleared on
% miles of streets which the/Dis-
trict always attempts to clean Off
during snow storms.
About 1000 workmen attached to
the Sanitary, Sewer, Highway and
Water Departments have worked
night and day to keep the traffic
moving. Mr.. Xanten credited them
with a good job under rigorous con-
ditions. He had hoped to hire about
300 additional men to supplement
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