A Goat Killing Norther
Rating |
|
To hear audio clip |
Click On Access This Item |
Title |
A Goat Killing Norther |
Subject |
Blizzard |
Transcript |
A Goat-Killing Norther No blue norther has ever paralyzed Texas like the one that struck in the middle of a Saturday night, on Feb.13, 1899. The Arctic blizzard swept into Texas and within hours temperatures dropped to the lowest the state had ever seen, or has ever seen since. In the Panhandle, which always gets the first and worst of any cold front, temperatures plunged to 31 degrees BELOW ZERO. That's right, 31 degrees BELOW ZERO. They dropped to 23 degrees below zero at Abilene, 16 degrees below at Denison, 11 degrees below in Dallas, and four below in San Antonio. Alice was five degrees above zero and the oasis of warmth in the state was Corpus Christi, which recorded a balmy 11 degrees above zero.. There were many casualties across the state from the storm. Great herds of livestock froze to death… Many people froze to death and others burned to death. Pot-bellied stoves were loaded up with coal or wood until they glowed bright red. Clothes caught on fire when people tried to get too close. In Corsicana, a 10-year- old girl got too close to a hot stove and caught on fire and burned to death. In Alice, a woman was burned to death when her dress brushed against a stove and ignited. There were similar stories across Texas. The San Antonio River froze and people could walk on it. The boat harbor at Port Aransas (it was called Tarpon then) froze and people on Sunday morning walked on the ice between the boats. It froze the river solid at Nuecestown. The Nueces Bay was solid ice, from shore to shore. It froze the saltwater in Corpus Christi Bay out past the piers, and the fishing boats were encased in ice. The Caller called it a "goat-killing norther" That blizzard of February, 1899, was the coldest ever recorded in Texas. Murphy Givens: KEDT Radio Scripts |
Author |
Murphy Givens |
Publisher |
KEDT Radio |
Date |
3/1/2002 |
Type |
Sound Recording |
Format |
MP3; Length 2 min. 15 sec. |
Language |
English |
Add tags for A Goat Killing Norther
you wish to report:
...