Worst October snow ever struck in 1925

Down at Laurel Park, The Sun's racing reporter described a "blinding snowstorm which made it impossible to distinguish colors."

"Despite the fact that all the horses looked alike, whether they were finishing, starting, rounding around the first or lower bend, or going down the backstretch, their admirers cheered for their favorites anyway. Many didn't even know the winners until the official numbers were posted," The Sun said.

(Photo by Jim McCue, Maryland Jockey Club, Jan. 5, 2003)

Here's how The Evening Sun recounted the event, in its report the next day, on Saturday, Oct. 31, 1925:

This is the first October day in forty-nine years on which Marylanders found snow on the ground and ice over the milk bottles when they arose, says James H. Spencer, forecaster.

There was ice on the milk bottle on his porch, where his thermometer showed twenty-six degrees before the sun began to warm things up. That is four degrees below the official record of the lowest temperature in the last twenty-four hours.

Mr. Spencer drops into poetry when he isn't working over weather maps. He became poetic today in describing snow-covered lawns, houses and trees glistening under the sun.

He says he never before, in any climate, saw the gorgeous oranges, scarlets, purples and browns of October trees covered with the white mantle of winter.

This October, the Weather Man declares, has been freakish, and the snowstorm of yesterday was the climax of its weirdness ...

"Does all this verify," Mr. Spancer was asked, "the prophesies that this winter is going to be a record-breaker for snows and severe weather?"

"Not at all," he answered. "Nobody is able to guess now what the weather is going to be through the winter. There is no foundation for those stories."