April snow: Now THIS was a storm

With its delicate greens and spectacular blooms open with all the promise of the season, aesthetically April might well rank as the most magnificent of the year.

But weather-wise, we'll put it at the other end of the spectrum, alternately tempestuous and lovely, teasing with the promise of June one day, and unable to rout the remnants of February the next.

Snowfalls tend to be white rain mixed with annoyance, and any insipid accumulations have the staying power of a teenager's attention span.

One of the grand exceptions was the great Easter weekend blizzard of April 3-4, 1915, which smothered Philadelphia with 19.4 inches of snow.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the storm "demoralized" traffic and paralyzed the entire East Coast.

Not to question an institution of such journalistic integrity, but looking around at the available data, it appears the storm focused its snow fury on Philadelphia.

New York City reported 10.2 inches, and Washington, 3.5. The paper noted an "80 mph gale" at Atlantic City, and given that the storm lingered into Easter Sunday morning, it did not constitute ideal parade weather.

"Thousands find difficulty in getting to Atlantic City for annual Paschal Boardwalk Parade," it said. (What do you want for 5 cents?)

A 46 m.p.h. gust was measured in Philadelphia at the official station, then at 10^th and Chestnut Streets. The temperature dropped to freezing at noon on the third and to 30 late night night.

As an aside, we'll also note that the front page that day included an article about U.S. military officers being recalled from Germany.

And next to that ominous piece was an item about the closing of an Arch Street burlesque house that had hosted an act featuring "muscle dancing and suggestive songs rendered by scantily clad young women."

This was no time to be scantily clad.