If you grew up in Forsyth County, you may remember the recurrence of snow on three Wednesdays in March 1960. The snows fell on March 2nd, March 9th, and March 16th.
The local newspapers were filled with advertisements for the approaching spring and Easter seasons, but the weather had other ideas. The storm that brought the snow on March 2nd spread in North Carolina from the mountains to the sea. In the mountains, the snow added inches to other snowfalls from the previous 10 days, making a total depth of 20 inches, measuring new and old snow.
Winston-Salem and Forsyth County had their share of snow difficulties, including traffic jams resulting from vehicles slipping and sliding. Snow chains were in short supply and vehicles without the chains had no traction. The motorist in the photo shown above got creative when he used the car’s hubcap to shovel the snow away from his tires.
Temperatures were still low and the snow was lingering, so the prediction of more snow was not met with enthusiasm, except perhaps with Forsyth County school children. Winston-Salem schools reopened, but Forsyth County schools remained closed. Sledding reports were very favorable, with the sunshine from the previous day creating a nice frozen crust on the snow. Hospitals reported a few sledding injuries, but none were seriously injured. There were other injuries from falls and slips reported.
Just crossing the street could be hazardous, as this woman crossing Cherry Street could testify.
The third Wednesday snow fell on March 16th, cancelling schools for students just as they were beginning to reopen. Higher temperatures were expected the day after the snow. But conditions in the mountains, specifically in Ashe, Alleghany, and Watauga Counties, were so dangerous that helicopters were enlisted to drop food, medicine, and supplies to stranded residents who lived away from highways. They even had a feed drop for the animals. The snow was so deep that farmers couldn’t get to their feed supplies on the farms.
Here are a few photos taken during the March 1960 snows.
Heavy snowfall is coming down on W. Fourth Street, with Thalhimer’s Department Store at the left. One of the men is carrying a sled.
This is a view of W. Fourth Street at Marshall Street, looking east.
This view shows N. Trade Street looking south.
The Belo House on S. Main Street is near the center of this photo.
Brunson was a new school in March of 1960. The parking lot is going to need a lot of scraping.
The spruce trees on Hawthorne Road are heavy with the snow.
These women decided to just walk to their destination. They are passing the street marker at Overbrook Avenue and Hawthorne Road.
Snow is collecting around the sidewalks and streets as in this photo taken on W. Fourth Street across from Sears.
An article in the Winston-Salem Journal on March 20th proclaimed the arrival of spring, with a photo of flowers attempting to poke up through the snow. The sun was out and temperatures were mild. Song birds were reported to have arrived, daffodils and other spring flowers were poking up and some were blooming. The writer ended with two words about the 1960 winter – “good riddance.”
Photographs courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
I remember these events very well. My family lived on Peace Haven Road and I was in the third grade at Speas Elementary School. The second storm occurred on my ninth birthday and ruined my party. Sledding was a challenge because the crust on top of the snow was not hard enough to support the weight of a sled and rider for very long, resulting in a sudden collapse and stop sending the rider off the sled.
This was before the consolidation of the city and county schools, and Speas was in the county so there was no school for most of those three weeks. In those days, the school year never extended past Memorial Day and make-up days were on Saturdays. I don’t remember how many Saturdays we spent in school but it was a lot.
In Burlington NC snow 3 Wednesdays in a row was fun for us kids in High School! We were out of school several day each of those weeks and made snow men, ate snow cream and had terrific snow ball fights!
I was in the 8th grade
Each Wed. after it snowed, ice would freeze up solid on top of the snow, enabling we kids to walk on top of the snow and slid as if we were skating ! My family was living in the Sedge Garden section of Kernersville and everyone was talking about when school would ever start back !