Columbia, Adair County and most of the rest of Kentucky was all but paralyzed today, Wednesday, [March 9, 1960] as seven to eighteen inches of snow was dropped throughout the State. There was an even fourteen inches in Columbia.

Most stores and businesses remained closed. Highways were impassable and highway graders and wreckers were the only vehicles moving at delayed press time early this morning.

18 Inch Snowfall Here Disrupts Schools, Business, Tournament

• Record Snow Here Brings Down Awnings, Car Ports
• County Schools Now Fifteen Days Behind Schedule

Very much more weather like Adair County, as well as the rest of Kentucky, has been having and students may find their summer vacations drastically cut short.

Already Adair County students have a total of 15 school days to make up at the end of the regular term.

The heavy snow which fell to a depth of 18 inches in Adair County last Tuesday night generally disrupted almost everything in the county. Schools were closed, or rather failed to reopen from the previous snow and slick roads, and business was practically halted.

Despite around the clock work by highway maintenance crews, most major roads were not open for traffic until late Wednesday. Side roads were not open, for the most part, until Thursday, and some few not then.

Highway crews, aided by men and equipment from the Shamrock Stone Company, had the Public Square clear'by Thursday. Some businesses still remained closed, however, and did not reopen until Friday.

Mail delivery was held up as mail carriers could not battle the deep drifts on some of the county roads. As soon as the highway graders opened the main roads, they tackled the secondary roads and soon had them open.

The snow also forced postponement of 6th Regional Tournament, which was scheduled to be played in the Adair County High School Gymnasium.

Then, to make a bad situation worse, about one inch of heavy, wet snow fell Thursday night and Friday mprning. It packed down into icy hardness and was covered with another inch of snow later on in the day Friday. Again, traffic ground to a halt until the scrapers could clear the roads sgain.

The record snow fall for this time of year had an unusually large water content, making it extremely heavy. Usually, according to meteorologists, about nine inches of snow will equal about one inch of water.

Several melted down tests of this snow showed that about three inches of it yielded nearly one inch of water.

A large number of metal awnings were collapsed by the weight of the accumulation before home and store owners realized it was so heavy. Others hastily got ladders and cleared theirs before the weight could bring them down.

The car port on one house which is under construction was also brought down by the snow.