The Texas Almanac for 1873, and Emigrant's Guide to Texas Page: 97
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iPHE NORTHERS OF TEXAS.
THE NORTHERS OF TEXAS.
It is understood by many persons at a distance that the Texas northerns"
are dreadful winter storms, which come on so suddenly and are so severe and
extremely cold that man and beast, caught out on the open prairies a few miles
from shelter, have often been known to freeze to death in a very short time.
Before I came to Texas I had heard such representations made of Texas
northers. In a late "Manual of Geography" the children are taught that
"Texas is famous for its north winds. Those come on at times so suddenly
'in winter, and are so cold and severe, that both man and beast have been
known to perish in them."
Now it is admitted that Texas Northers have not only become famous
abroad, but that they deserve notoriety for the suddenness and violence of
their winds, but not, generally, for the severity of the cold which attends
them. The cold spells of winter of the same latitude in Georgia and Florida,
from which I came, are generally as cold, if not colder, than the winter
northers of Texas. It is seldom we have frost, in the vicinity of Austin, be-
fore the middle or last of November, and be it known that Austin is about in
the centre of the belt of Texas northers; for the northers are confined to the
prairie portion of the State, west of Trinity river.
For the last three or four winters-since I have been in the State-not
more than a half-dozen of these north winds have been cold enough to form
ice at all, during any one winter, and only three or four of them during the
whole time have sunk the mercury to twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit.
Let it be understood that here in Texas all north winds which come up
suddenly, with any degree of violence, are called northers-even a summer
thunderstorm from the north is called a norther-but the term is principally
applied to the sudden north winds of winter.
The people here in Texas divide these winter storms into " wet northers"
and "dry northers." The wet northers are very similar to the winter storms
in the States east of the Mississippi river. A north wind blows, with more
or less violence, attended with rain, and sometimes, but not often, with snow
and sleet, and lasts about twelve or fifteen hours, passing off with a moder-
ate north or northwest wind. But the dry northers are attended with pecu-
liar and singular phenomena, never witnessed, so far as I know, in any storms
east of Texas. As these notorious dry north winds have given the character
and the bad reputation of the northers of Texas, I shall endeavor to describe
them somewhat in detail.
For several hours preceding the most violent of these dry northers there is
almost a dead calm and the air is unusually warm and sultry. A few low,
sluggish bodies of cloud float about in the eddy atmosphere. A dark, muddy
looking cloud wave next appears low down all across the northern horizon,
which is the "precautionary signal" of the near approach of this strange
Texas storm. A few minutes more, and the terrible roaring of the northern
is distinctly heard. All hands in the field at work are now running to the
house for shelter, where all is hurry and bustle to pile on the wood and get
the fires ablaze. At the same time, the stock on the prairies have turned
tail to the wind, and are fleeing as for life to some timbered ravine or bluff
for shelter. All this, and more too; but be not alarmed, for there is no
danger, though the Geography says "men and beasts have sometimes per-
ished in them," which may possibly be so; but still the colts on the prairie
and the children in the yard are kicking up their heels, sporting amidst the
pranks of the dashing wind. But the dark cloudwave is now over, and no
rain, except it may be a very slight mist, followed by a dry, blue, misty haze,
4
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The Texas Almanac for 1873, and Emigrant's Guide to Texas, book, 1873~; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123778/m1/99/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.