350 A. N. Winchell— Great Dustfall of 1920. 



observed as a gray coating that stuck to everything after 

 the snow melted, and was considered the heaviest dnstfall 

 in fifteen years. At Charles City, it was yellow or straw- 

 colored clay. At La Crosse, it appeared as a light brown- 

 ish layer, first noticed in shoveling the snow off the walks 

 in the morning. The dust-bearing snow rested upon an 

 inch of pure white snow. At the other places the dust 

 did not noticeably discolor the snow. 



A postal inquiry was also sent to a hundred observers, 

 mostly co-operative observers in small towns where the 

 chance of local soot and dust was small. Sixty-seven 

 replies were received, and the samples of dust accom- 

 panied reports from the following : 



Carlisle, Pa. C. E. Miller. 



Louisville, Ky. J. L. Kendall. 



Westboro, Mass. Emily W. Newcomb. 



At Louisville there was a pronounced brownish haze in 

 the sky. At Carlisle the dust was first noticed in the 

 melting of snow from the snow gage for measurement. 

 At Westboro the dust appeared on the surface of melting 

 snow. Other observers, who had noticed the deposit, but 

 did not collect samples reported as follows : C. D. Reed, 

 Des Moines, Iowa, says " there was an appreciable deposit 

 of yellowish clay on the roof of our building during this 

 storm. The amount was not more than one-third as 

 great as occurred in the storm of February 13-14, 1919. ' ' 

 Mr. Wm. F. Baker, at Decorah, Iowa, reported that 

 "there was a fall of 1.5 inches of snow, the first layer 

 about .5 inch was pure white, the next half inch light 

 brown, and the top was a layer of pure white. At Colum- 

 bus, Ohio, Mr. "William H. Alexander reported "no dust 

 or mud deposit was noted at this office, but several tele- 

 phone calls inquiring the cause of the mud deposit came 

 from the southern section of the city. ' ' At Wilmington, 

 Ohio, Mr. Erskine R. Hayes noted "March 19, 11:35 a.m. 

 Muddy hail fell. When melted in a pan left quite a 

 deposit of brownish-yellow loam, slightly gritty. Rain 

 which followed was also very muddy, left quite a lot on 

 roofs, and spattered sides of buildings." At Raquette 

 Lake, N. Y. Mr. R. J. Dunning entered: "March 19: 5 

 p.m. a round hard snow, almost like hail, 4.3 inches, was 

 dirty. ' ' Fifty of the replies were negative, the reporters 



