Evening star., 1948-12-20
Traffic Normal
AS District Diqs
Out Of Snow.
Higher Temperatures
Expected to Remove
Lost Trace Quickly
Pictures on Page BIZ

Washington dug out from
under its first snowstorm of the
season in fine style today with
traffic moving almost normally
and only the white coating to
remind residents of yesterdays
storm.
The Weather Bureau recorded q
total of 54 inches of snow at Ma
tional Airport-just a fraction COM
pared with the 1875 inches that
buried New York, tying up buses
and trains during the morning rush
hour there today.
With temperatures in the low 40's
expected here today and pushing uo
to the high 40's tomorrow, it ap-
peared that yesterdays 12-hour
snow fall would be only a memory
by Christmas. Some cloudiness was
forecast for tomorrow, but no more
snow in the immediate future.
Main Streets Cleared
AT the height of the storm yester-
day there were visions of workers
struggling downward today in ice
bound traffic. But the snow-fighting
forces under direction of Refuse Di-
rector William A. Xanten had the
main streets cleared this morning
and there was little interference to
automobiles, streetcars or buses.
Commercial air traffic resumed
normal operations to the West and
South this morning after a Gripping
day in which so per cent of the
flights were cancelled. Most of the
cancellations were on New York
flights which still were grounded be-
cause LaGuardia and Idlewild Air.
ports were closed.
New York-to- Washington trains,
reported running far behind sched-
ule yesterday, were said to be op-
Grating normally today, as were
other routes. Some buses from New
York were running 40 to so minutes
late.
Normal Number of Accidents.
Traffic here functioned remark
ably well, even during the storm.
Police reported only IS minor acci-
dents during the "a hours ending at
8 am. today-no more than on any
week end. One pedestrian was
treated for cuts suffered in a fall
and one child was slightly injured
when accidentally hit by q snow
shovel. ~
Capital Transit Co. reported little
trouble. Despite IS sand trucks and
Is snowplows put in service at 3
am. yesterday, some streetcars were
delayed, but only one minor delay
was reported this morning. Except
on the Sixteenth street hill, which
required additional sanding, buses
found the going easy early today.
The American Automobile Asso-
citation answered 399 distress calls
yesterday, but few more than are
serviced on an average Sunday.
Most of the calls were for cars
stalled by the cold and not the
snow. This morning the AAA pre-
pared for a rush but was surprised
to find business only slightly above
normal.
Taste of Everything.
Almost everything in the book,
except sunshine and hail, got into
the act during the storm.
1t started showing at 1855 am.
yesterday and continued until $3.50.
After an 11-minute pause it started
again and continued until 2:45 pm.
But meanwhile, sleet, freezing rain,
snow pellets and fog entered the
picture.
The sleet set in at 7:57 am, con-
tinued to 1924 am, and appeared
again from 1852 m. to los pm.
and from 2:10 pm. until 2:45 pm.
The fog dropped in at 1857 am,
lasting until 1924, and reappearing
from 2:46 pm. until 6:25 pm.
Freezing rain was clocked from S:39
am. until 9:39 am, from 11:03 am.
to 1908 pm. and from 1:24 pm.
until 2;45 pm.
To top it off, there were snow
pellets, too, tiny objects classified
neither as snow nor sleet. They fell
from los pm. until 1:24 pm.
Coolest mark of the period was
20 degrees at 1898 last night. BY
IYyr r-Yrr,