March snow in '42 crippled city
FROM TODAY'S PRINT EDITIONS:
It could have been worse. Today is the 69th anniversary of Baltimore’s biggest March snowstorm. The surprise “Palm Sunday Storm” dropped 21.9 inches of heavy, wet snow, crippling the city. It doubled a 50-year-old record for March and remains the city’s third-biggest one-day snowfall.
Heavy snow collapsed roofs, crushed shrubbery, tore down branches, phone and power lines. Cars and streetcars were mired in slush. Pleasure boats listed and shipped water. One sank. Robins were bewildered.
Here are some photos from Washington, D.C., which recorded only 16 inches from the storm.
Prof. Jeff Halverson has chimed in this morning with the following:
"The storm was a coastal low that formed off Hatteras, but it did not bomb out (deepen rapidly) like many do.
"But it did move up the coast very slowly. Cold air damming was present as well.
"So this was a long-duration event, and temps must have been close to 0 degrees C and/or there was strong moisture inflow, to give very low snow:liquid ratios."
Here's the weather map for March 29, 1942.
(SUN PHOTO: Perry Thorsvik, March 1997)
Categories: From the Sun's print edition
Comments
What about the one of '91 (?) ? March 23rd. I always think of it as 2ft, but I guess not. It was a lot though. It was the year Camden Yards opened up. There was a lot of shoveling to be done.
FR: CamdenYards' first regular season game was on April 6, 1992. There was a trace of snow recorded at BWI on the 2nd, during a pre-season game, if I recall correctly. Not sure which storm you're remembering. The record snowfall at BWI for March 23 is 3.6 inches in 1934. I'll check further when I get to work.
Posted by: siasds | March 29, 2011 7:40 AM
My parents were married this weekend. Drove to Atlantic City and then back to Baltimore. My Dad must have been an excellent driver, to manage in all that snow.
Posted by: Margaret | March 29, 2011 8:24 AM
I came to Baltimore from New England in 1954 as a fledgling engineer at the (then) Glenn L. Martin Co. Old timers there were still talking about the "Palm Sunday Snowstorm". In particular, the parking lots at the plant were covered with camoflage nets which collapsed under the heavy snow.
Being wartime, the plant ran multiple shifts so that there were cars caught under the collapsed nets, and new comers for the next shifts couldn't get in. Not having been there, I could only imagine the mess, particularly when sitting in line leaving the lots in the afternoon sunshine! I'm sure it must have been the same for other war-production plants as well.
As a transplanted northerner, I could scarcely believe the limited snow-clearing resources and generally helpless attitude toward street-clearing that persisted even into the '60's.
Posted by: icyone | March 29, 2011 8:43 AM
I think the 1991 or 1992 storm was a little earlier in March - maybe the 13th instead of the 23rd.
FR: That would be the March 13-14 "Superstorm" in 1993. It affected states from Alabama to New England, and produced the lowest barometric reading on record for the mid-Atlantic. It killed 200 people and caused $2 billion in damage along its path. But we didn't get record snow here. Washington had 13 inches, while southwest Virginia recorded 30 to 42 inches.
Posted by: NT | March 29, 2011 11:07 AM
I think saisds is referring to the March '93 superstorm. We got about a foot if I recall
Posted by: billyo | March 29, 2011 1:20 PM