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)