What was SLO County’s heaviest snow storm? Here’s how much the area got in 1910
Snow is a rarity in San Luis Obispo County, where the Pacific Ocean usually moderates winter weather.
When the right combination of Arctic cold and precipitation mix, however, the Santa Lucia mountains and foothills turn from green to white.
Even more rarely, the snow gets down to the city level.
On Dec. 15, 1988, the Cuesta Pass was closed as 7 inches of snow fell in Santa Margarita. Schools shuttered and kids were sent home to play.
Snow also closed the Cuesta Grade in March 1976 and in March 1991.
In the early 20th century, the San Luis Obispo Tribune published both daily and weekly editions.
The weekly edition summarized the biggest news from the daily for the bargain minded who wanted to save money from a daily subscription. Typesetters could lift whole sections of hand set type from the daily to composite the weekly paper.
They liked to throw extra punctuation into typesetting then. The headlines sometimes had a period at the end as well as the masthead for the “San Luis Obispo Tribune.”
This story about a snow storm ran in the weekly San Luis Obispo Tribune on Jan 7, 1910:
THE HEAVIEST SNOW STORM SINCE 1885.
(From Tuesday’s Daily.)
Fred Cavanaugh arrived yesterday from the Carrisa Plains. He stated that he traveled through a foot of snow between Simmler and Pozo and that the snow remained on the ground during all of Sunday.
Supervisor Ed Black states that the mantle of snow covered Santa Margarita during all of Sunday and that there was a decided chill in, the air.
In Templeton six inches of snow covered the ground and Paso Robles had three inches.
Snow Storm of 1883.
The snow storm which visited this county Saturday and Sunday was the heaviest since December 31, 1882. County Assessor Hollister stated yesterday to a Tribune scribe that three feet of snow fell on the Carrisa Plains that storm. Mr. Hollister was on his way to Sacramento to represent this county in the Assembly and stopped in San Francisco in the midst of a heavy snow storm.
Turning to the files of the San Luis Obispo Tribune of January 5, 1883, we find the following account of that storm:
“One of the most severe storms that has visited this coast for years, so far as the velocity of the wind was concerned, prevailed last Sunday In the northern part of the state and as far south as Monterey, it was accompanied by snow.
At San Francisco three inches of snow fell, and for a short time the city presented the appearance of an eastern city in mid-winter. The papers say there been been nothing like it since 1857, but if they will refer to their files they will find that during the winter of 1863-4 — the dry year —there was a heavy snow fall in San Francisco. The rainfall for the present season is somewhat short of the average for the past thirteen years, it being 5.25 inches, while the average is 6.59 inches. On Tuesday the stage was delayed, and did not reach San Luis Obispo until 9 o’clock.”
The above from the Tribune files will recall the days of staging. Storms then delayed the stage, while now it is the railway trains that are hindered by the elements occasionally.
No one may be frightened over the snow storm of Sunday in California. It was heavy in 1857, 1864 and 1883 and yet there have been many winters of sunshine since and the Golden State still holds its place as the one great resort of the world for those who want to enjoy the winter months far removed from wintry blasts.
Snowflakes in California are just as much a novelty as orange blossoms in the east during the winter months. Paste that in your hat.
The total rainfall for this city to date is 13.55 inches.
