Worst Inaugural weather? Good question!
Today, January 20th, is inauguration day for president-elect Barack Obama. And it's going to be a cold one! A viewer in Dade City was wondering, "Which president suffered through the worst weather on his inauguration?" That's a good question! And so timely, because this is the 100th anniversary of what's described as the worst inaugural weather in U.S. history! The date was March 4th, 1909. Yes, the president used to take the oath of office on March 4th.
William Howard Taft was being sworn in as our country's 27th president. But a blizzard dumped ten inches of snow on the capitol! Records show it took 6,000 men and 500 wagons to clear 58,000 tons of snow and slush from the parade route. Wind downed trees and power lines, the roads were impassable and the trains were stalled.Taft's inauguration ceremony was held indoors, in the senate chamber, due to the heavy snowfall. As bad as that was, the coldest inauguration day on record was Ronald Reagan's second in 1985. The temperature that day was 7 degrees, with a wind chill of minus 10! That ceremony was also moved indoors. By the way, that cold air made its way into Florida the next day. January 21st, 1985 still holds the record for the coldest January day on record in Tampa, with the morning low bottoming out at 21 degrees. Ironically, the inauguration date was moved up from March 4th to January 20th because it was determined that the weather was historically better on January 20th. The twentieth amendment to the Constitution made it official in 1933. Franklin Roosevelt's second inauguration, in 1937, was the first on the new day. Unfortunately, the weather was far from perfect. More than an inch and a half of cold rain came down, with FDR riding in an open car. Half an inch of water collected on the floorboard by the time he reached the White House! January 20th, 1937 still holds the daily rainfall record for any January 20th in Washington D.C. One final note on inauguration day weather. William Henry Harrison's swearing-in, in 1841, turned out to be the most tragic. It was cloudy and cold, and he wasn't wearing an overcoat, hat or gloves during the ceremony. He caught a cold, which became pneumonia, and he died a month later.
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