Evening star., 1961-01-27
WEATHER
Noon Snow
A BuIIseye
For Bureau

Continued From First Page
reau to the fact that the new
snow Is very dry and powdery.
This gives car wheels more
traction.
Also credited was the ample
advance warning given area
officials by the Weather Bu-
reau. 1t started showing just
is minutes before noon. as pre-
dicted.
Engineer Commissioner Fred
erick j. Clarke credited the
early dismissal order with
averting another history-mak-
ing traffic jam like that Of the
Thursday before. Area high
way officials and police also re-
acted quickly to the storm.
Snow-fighters in the District,
Virginia and Maryland were
aided through the Districts
civil defense communications
center.
/ Civil Defense Director George
r. Rodericks heads a crew
which hourly has informed
Government departments of
weather developments.
william r. Roeder, the Dis
trict's sanitation department
assistant superintendent, called
the radioed information very
useful" in deploying road
clearing equipment. The sys-
tenn bypasses jammed tele-
phone circuits.
Few Trouble Calls
The American Automobile
Association expressed pleasant
surprise" at the light volume
of trouble calls received during
and after the storm. j. w.
Vasbinder, assistant manager
of the road service depart
ment. said, Apparently people
finally realized that when
there's snow on the streets it's
not a good idea to go joy
riding. We had 1900 calls, a
fantastically low number for a
snowstorm here"
In the District and the coun-
ties, only a few minor traffic
accidents were reported. Fire
departments reported no major
blazes but they received a
number of calls about broken
water pipes caused by the con-
tinuous subfreezing tempefa-
lures.
Snow blocking rural roads in
Maryland and Virginia caused
a curtailment Of cattle receipts
at the Baltimore livestock
markets but District meat
supply men said there would
be no shortage Of meat here.
Cattle receipts were 1850 this
week compared with 3.018 at
the same time last year and
1,675 last week.
The Chesapeake g. Potomac
Telephone Co., PEPCO and
VEPCO reported their service
calls were just a few more than
usual as a result Of the storm.
All major department and
speciality stores closed at 4
pm. yesterday through agree
ment, spokesman for the
Merchants and Manufacturers
Association said. Usually the
stores remain open until 8
pm. on Thursdays.
Buses, Trains Slowed
The storm prevented planes
from landing or taking off at
Washington from about 4:30
to 7:30 pm. yesterday, and
continued today to slow buses
and trains by as much as 2la
hours.
Passengers on trains have
increased by about 10 per cent
since the snow. Extra cars
have been added and long
trains have been split into
smaller ones to get a more
favorable ratio between power
and weight.
Although many trains were
coming into Union Station a
half hour to an hour late today,
officials hoped to have them
back on schedule tonight.
Buses from the far South
continued to be delayed as
much as 21a hours today. Runs
from Richmond and from the
North were UP to an hour late.
All routes were operating today,
Washington dispatchers said.
They noted a decrease in
long-run passenger traffic but
an increase Of about so per
cent in passengers to suburban
areas.