Blue Norther: A Blast from the Past

As it seems the hurricane season just will not end, I was asked a question by James, who recalls having ‘Blue Northers’ in his childhood. He says he has not seen them since and hopes his grandchildren can witness this phenomenon.

Being a student of meteorology I have heard many different rare and uncommon weather phenomena, but I had never heard of a Blue Norther until today. For the older readers this might not be news to y’all, but a Blue Norther is a type of extreme cold front that can happen in the spring or fall, that drops the temperature by 20 to 50 degrees and brings along with it wind 20-30 mph with gusts in the 60s.

While a Blue Norther has to travel across many states to come to us, the name is believed to originate from Texas, but the actual reason it is called a Blue Norther is still not pinned down. There are three main theories on why it is called a Blue Norther. One states that it sweeps down from “out of the Panhandle under a blue-black sky” or that once it passes through, the sky turns dark blue, or the that the air is so cold from the front that it turns blue.

There are a few notable accounts of Blue Northers from Texas history that would make Paul Bunyon seem less like a tall tale. The most mind boggling example is from 1899 at Fort Ringgold along the Rio Grande. On February 3, 1899 the temperature there was 99 degrees. But by February 9, a cold front had come through and on the 12th of February 1899 along the Rio Grande the recorded high temperature was 7 degrees. On the same day in Tulia the high was -23.

Along with bringing colder temps, it is believed that Blue Northers also were the main catalysts for the major dust storms during the Dust Bowl. While Blue Northers still happen today, the word is being forgotten and replaced with by just calling them cold fronts. It is sad to see a word that is a part of the history of this state being forgotten to time, a true Texanism, being lost and forgotten.

On another note I am now back at college and need your suggestions or questions more than ever to keep making these articles. You can contact the paper and I will get those messages forwarded to me or you can contact me directly with this email address tomy3290@gmail.com. Any topics are greatly appreciated as the semester is in full swing. Now onto your local weather.

With Delta making landfall last Friday, it is out of our area now so we can get back to normal fall weather with this week having a high around 85 with clear skies and a nice breeze. There are no astronomical events to report on.