Cold Snap, Wind, Ice Plague Much of U.S.

Sleet and snow made roads slick from Arkansas to New York state and Vermont on Wednesday, while a windblown cold front dumped rain on the South and sent temperatures plummeting by 15 degrees in less than an hour.

A freak storm with driving rain and winds of up to 70 m.p.h. hit the Washington, D.C., area Wednesday afternoon, blowing roofs off homes, toppling trees and downing power lines. It lasted only 10 minutes and was followed by sunshine.

At least five people were reported injured. Two children were trapped briefly in their partly collapsed townhouse in Reston, Va., but were not hurt.

Electrical Lines Felled

Power was knocked out to about 35,000 customers in nearby Montgomery County, Md., when trees fell into electrical lines, a spokeswoman for Potomac Electric Power Co. said.

Winds were clocked at 77 m.p.h. in Baltimore County, National Weather Service forecaster Bill Comeaux said. “It’s rare for this area to have gusts that high,” he said.

Frigid air gripped the northern plains and upper Mississippi Valley, holding temperatures near zero.

In Dayton, Ohio, the body of Ruby Bonnville, 80, who had been reported missing from her home, was found Wednesday morning. Authorities believe her death was due to exposure. Temperatures skidded from just above freezing to the low 20s in one hour just after dawn in Dayton Wednesday, changing rain and freezing rain to snow and leaving 4 inches on the ground.

Airline Books Rooms

Up to 7 inches of snow fell near St. Louis, disrupting both air and ground travel. TWA canceled all but 10 of 120 scheduled flights at St. Louis between 5 and 10 p.m. Tuesday, stranding 4,000 holiday travelers overnight. The airline reserved hundreds of hotel rooms to handle the passengers.

Drivers plowed into ditches off snow- and ice-covered streets and highways in southern Illinois Wednesday as a snowfall that ranged up to 8 inches followed 2 1/2 inches of rain and a quick freeze.

“We had about 2 1/2 inches of rain when it started to snow and freeze,” Illinois state trooper Claude Wright said. “We don’t have any road down here that isn’t like a sheet of glass.”

Rain fell Wednesday ahead of a cold front stretching from southern New England to southern Ohio and into Alabama and Mississippi, forecasters said.

Wind Gusts Reported

Winds gusted to near 50 m.p.h. in parts of Tennessee, North Carolina and Alabama and to 40 m.p.h. in Georgia.

Gusts of 127 m.p.h. were recorded at Grandfather Mountain, a 6,000-foot peak northwest of Charlotte, N. C. Winston Church, who manages a National Weather Service reporting station at the 5,300-foot level, said: “The temperature dropped from 47 to 25, or 22 degrees, in 2 1/2 hours.”