On Wednesda lit ~=Shanghai was visited by the second snowstorm of the year, shorter but of greater intensity than that of a month ago. Following a day of drizzling rain, there was sleet during the evening and by seven o'clo this had turned into driving sri supported by a strong north-easterly gale. That snow fell heavy throughout the night was evident from the fact that it made a considerable layer on the ground in spite of the previous day's rain. and yesterday morning roofs, trees! and turf had a heavy and pretty coating.
In the outlying districts—nor-them and western—the story affected the telephone service to a great extent. as wires and poles suffered damage and a number of subscribers were put out of communication with the Central Exchange. Work on repairs, however, Was put in hand as soon as possible and the Telephone Com-Pany announced on Thursday that there would be as little delay as possible in the restoration of the service. fas In the early hours of the morning, as sigh as snow had ceased, the Public Works Department sent out a well-equipped staff of coolies to clear roads and pavements, and piles of snow were to be seen embanked near the kerb-stones. This was a distinct benefit to road traffic, though narrowing it to some extent.
The last really heavy fall of snow, during so short a period of time, occurred on January 2 of this year, when there was a recorded depth of 0.33 in., followed by a depth of 0.32 in. on the following day, and after a brilliantly fine afternoon, further slight falls on the morning of January 4. We have to go back as far as February 5, 1915, for a similarly heavy fall, which began on that date and continued until February 7, with increasing intensity.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.