Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1899 — SNOWFALL OUT OF SEASON. [ARTICLE]

SNOWFALL OUT OF SEASON.

Precipitation Extends All the Way front Santa Ke to Detroit. A snowstorm extending from Santa Fe to Detroit, accompanied at many points in its course by high wind, swept up from the southwest at midnight Wednesday and continued until dark Thursday evening. Reports from points in Kansas Missouri, lowa and Illinois indicated that the storm was severe for this time of year, and in many cases a record-breaker. In Chicago the fall was three inches. In some cities the storm was accompanied by such high wind as to resemble a blizzard, and the fall of snow was so great as to effectually blockade street ear traffic for hours. From Galesburg came the news that all traffic and business was stopped by the blizzard. Peoria reported the first real snowstorm of the season. Good sleigh riding was reported from Monmouth, a foot of snow having fallen within twelve hours. Outside of Illinois the greatest storm seemed to be in Kansas and Nebraska. Chillicothe, Mo., reported the worst storm in many years, with snow a foot deep and the storm still raging. Between Atchison and Omaha a heavy snow fell, drifted hy a strong wind. The Missouri Pacific, expecting blockades, had equipped engines at different points with snow plows. From six to twelve inches fell between Atchison and Grafton, and two feet at Blue Rapids and Waterville, Kan. Street car traffic in Leavenworth was impeded. lowa told much the same story as Illinois. Muscatine, Burlington and Ottawa correspondents all told of “the worst storm this time of year for many years,” and of impeded street car traffic and railroad blockades and abandoned trains. At St. Joseph, Mo,, the temperature was 22 degrees, and the storm was so severe that street cars were unable to run. But in St. Louis there was only two-hundredths of an inch precipitation. Kansas City reported that rain, snow and hail fell successively, accompanied by strong wind and falling temperature. In South Bend, Ind., snow fell to a depth of eleven inches, and the thermometer dropped fourteen degrees in nine hours. Down in New Orleans. Memphis and Ch#ttanooga and other Southern cities the blizzard was transformed into a thunderstorm, and at New Orleans a precipitation of 1.7 inches of rain fell in twelve hours. In Cincinnati. Indianapolis and Nashville also rain fell.