WEATHER BUREAU. 69 



Rio Grande during the morning of June 16, progressed for sonic 

 distance up that valley, and was attended by excessive rains which 

 caused the great( st flood on record in the lower Rio Grande. Storm 

 warnings were displayed on the southern Texas coast well in advance 

 of the storm and at the same time advices were issued that heavy 

 rains would occur in that region. 



Ice storm in New England. — The most disastrous ice or glaze 

 storm in the " memory of the oldest inhabitants " and within the 

 period of official records occurred in New England during the last 

 few days of November, 1921. It was the result of a cyclone that was 

 central over South Carolina on the 27th and a slight barometric 

 depression that apparently formed over the Atlantic a little to the 

 southward of Nantucket during the night of November 26 and 27. 

 The southern storm moved rapidly northeastward, gained great in- 

 tensity, and on the evening of the 29th its center was off Cape Cod. 

 It caused gales and high tides on the middle Atlantic and New Eng- 

 land coasts and heavy precipitation. In parts of New England, 

 especially Massachusetts, rain fell with air temperatures below the 

 freezing point. Heavy snow had preceded the rain. The latter 

 continued for about three days, during many hours of which period 

 the surface temperatures were several degrees below freezing. The 

 rain froze as it fell and coated trees, telegraph and telephone wires, 

 and other objects. "Wliile gales occurred near and off the coast the 

 wind in the ice-storm area was not very high, so that the damage was 

 almost entirely due to the weight of the accumulated ice. Tel'?^graph 

 and telephone poles were broken, communication was paralyzed, and 

 electric light plants were put out of commission. Many tliousands 

 of trees were ruined and telephone, telegraph, electric light, and rail- 

 road companies suffered heavy losses. Some idea of the accmnula- 

 tion of the ice on objects may be gained from the fact that ordinary 

 insulated electric light wires were in many instances ice-coated 2 

 inches in diameter and weighed about 1.3 pounds to the foot. It 

 required several days to remove the tangle of broken poles and wires 

 and to restore partial transportation and communication services. 



Storm on the Great Lahes. — A storm of extraordinary severity 

 raged in the Lake region on December 17 and 18, 1921. Tlie wind 

 velocity at Buffalo equaled the highest on record at that station, 96 

 miles an hour, and the high winds continued for an unusually long 

 period. During the three hours from 9 a. m. to noon it averaged 89.3 

 miles an hour and 75.6 miles an hour for a period of 12 hours. 

 Timely and adequate warnings were issued, but there was large 

 property damage notwithstanding the warnings and protective meas- 

 ures that were taken. Sixty-two vessels loaded with grain were 

 anchored in the breakwater harbor at Buffalo but the high winds 

 tore 27 of them from their moorings and swept them onto the beach. 

 The Buffalo Commercial, in an editorial comment on the storm, said : 



It Is unlikely that there has been in years a stoi*m of such sustained fury. 

 That there was no greater damage to shipping is due. of course, to tlie fact that 

 there was ample warning given by the Weather Bureau. 



Heavy snoiostorm. — One of the heaviest falls of snow on record 

 in some of the Atlantic Coast States occurred during January 27. 28, 

 and 29, 1922. The heavy snowfall was due to a storm that first 

 appeared south of Florida on the 26th and moved up the coast. Its 



