1947 Spring Blizzard

Early 1947:  A typical winter for Washington where one could expect blowing snow, ice, and bone-chilling cold. The town instead saw a very mild and dry winter season - disappointing for some and surprising others.  As Spring rolled around on March 20, the Peoria area recorded a scant three days of snow, with only one inch per month since January.

Spring 1947:  the first recorded consecutive days of temperatures in the 50s occurred on March 22 and 23, but a change was approaching.  After two pleasant days, a cold front whipped through the area.  Late on Sunday March 23, the front led with thunderstorms.  Almost an inch and a half of rain poured steadily through the morning of Monday the 24th.  Temperatures then plummeted in the afternoon, and the heavy rain turned to snow with the wind ramping up, creating hazardous travel conditions.  Oddly, thunder and lightning rumbled and flashed even while the snow continued.    

Around 4 p.m.,  the entire city of Washington lost power due to the storm.  Soon after, all roads in and out of Washington were closed.  Townsfolk and travelers were isolated and stranded, while workers could not return home.  Stalled and stuck trucks and cars lined Route 24, the two-lane highway into and out of town.  Days passed before the road was cleared, allowing traffic to move again.  Our local newspaper reported that approximately 300 non-residents were stranded in Washington overnight on the 24th, and more than 200 sought refuge at the city building.

Everett Mitchell was one of those stranded. A well-known figure back in the day, Mitchell was the host of a popular Chicago radio show, "The Farm & Home Hour," and was in town to give a speech at a WCHS banquet. Another celebrity stranded in town was Glen Gray, leader of the nationally known Casa Loma Orchestra. Gray was in town to visit Frank Herbst, owner of the Ben Franklin on Main Street and a former bandmate of Gray.  

Phone service was disrupted.  Several Peoria radio stations went silent, and the postal service could not function from Monday morning until Wednesday afternoon. 

In total, 3.5 inches of snow were recorded in Peoria, with widespread blowing and drifting making travel near impossible. Some residents had their power restored very late Monday night. Most were back online sometime Tuesday, but many rural residents had no power until Wednesday morning.

A writeup in the local paper describes just how significant this storm was:

Mother Nature this week with its sudden blizzard on Monday presented us with a phenomenon, stranded guests, including notables of nation-wide recognition, confusion and delay, a realization of how dependent we are on the modern day conveniences and best of all an opportunity to show that Washington could be the most hospitable little city in America.  The phenomenon, which prompted a lot of weather talk and comparisons with the good old days, was that we had rain, sleet, snow and the biggest oddity of all thunder and lightning during the snow storm...all in one day!

The March 24 storm signaled the end of winter in 1947, and by April 5 the temperature was sniffing a welcome 70 degrees.