The Knickerbocker Storm, A Washington, DC, Tragedy

Late January and February are the peak period for major winter storms in the Northeast.

But on January 22, 1922, 104 years ago tonight, one of those major East Coast snowstorms became one of the deadliest.

This late January storm left snow in its wake from South Carolina to Massachusetts, but retained its greatest impact on the nation’s capital.

On the afternoon of January 27-28, 28 inches of snow fell in Washington, D.C., which remains the city’s all-time snowstorm record dating to 1885 and double the modern average annual snowfall in the city (13.7 inches). Parts of the metro were hit with an incredible 38 inches from this storm.

Roads and sidewalks were clogged with heavy, waist-deep snow, according to rarehistoricalphotos.com. Drifts of up to 16 feet have been reported on sections of railroad track between Washington and Philadelphia.

But that evening, the weight of that snow atop the Knickerbocker Theater in Washington, D.C., caused the roof to rupture, collapse and destroy a balcony during a silent film showing.

Ninety-eight people were killed and 133 others were injured when the roof split.

This event became known as the Knickerbocker Storm, in reference to this tragic event.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at Weather.com and has covered national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Contact him on Blue sky, X (formerly Twitter) And Facebook.