Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, August 26, 1997

1895: Acadia Parish 'was in a shroud of white'

by Jim Bradshaw

Unlikely as it may seem, a snowfall more than a century ago makes the Acadia Parish city of Rayne the state record holder for the most snow ever to fall anyplace in Louisiana. The town got 24 inches of the stuff from Feb. 13 through Feb. 15, 1895.

It was bitter cold throughout Louisiana when the storm came through. This is the report from the Monthly Weather Review put out by the National Crop and Weather Service for February 1895:

February 1895 will go down in the history of Louisiana climatology as a record breaker for cold and snow. ...The cold may be said to have been continuous throughout the entire month, there being only five days when the temperature averaged normal ... for the day. The coldest weather occurred on the morning of the 7th and 8th; more particularly on the latter date in the southern half of the state; and no such cold was ever known before in February in Louisiana, and but once for any other winter month, i.e., January 1886.

Within a week after this extreme cold the ground was covered with a mantle of snow to a depth of from a few inches at the Mississippi jetties to as much as two feet in southwest Louisiana.

The cold, as is still the usual pattern for Louisiana, came first to the northern part of the state, and - also as is normal - apparently moved from the west to the east. On Jan. 31, 1895, The Shreveport Times reported:

Yesterday the Times pen pushers were treated to a very neat, palatable and certainly excellent glass of winter ice cream. It was made of feathery snow flakes packed in a goblet, moistened with some pure milk, with a little sugar added and flavored with vanilla. A very thoughtful and obliging young lady was the donor, which may have had something to do with its deliciousness. But the pure, driven snow is a rarity in this clime, and such a mixture is like an angel's visit--few and far between.

And the Daily Advocate in Baton Rouge reported on Feb. 10:

The blizzard along the Mississippi during the last two days of very cold weather made navigation most difficult. Ice remained firm and solid along the banks of the stream all day and the ferry and other boats did but little business.

But it was in Acadiana that the weather was the most remarkable. The official form submitted to the national weather bureau by the weather observer in Lafayette for February 1895 carries the following note:

Snow began falling on the night of the 13^th--stopped before day-light -- began again about 6:30 am. on the 14^th and kept it up until about 10 o'clock a.m. on the 15th--about 14 inches of snowfall.

The Crowley Signal of Feb. 16, 1895, had a long account of what happened when the snows came to Acadia Parish:

When Crowley's populace awoke on Thursday morning it was to find that "the land of sunshine and roses" had been completely covered over with a blanket of snow. At sunrise possibly an inch of snow had fallen here but the heavens gave every indication of a large reserve supply. By nine o'clock the blizzard was in full force and continued to rage all day and well into the night. For a little time yesterday morning the sun was visible through the mist, but by nine o'clock it had disappeared and the "beautiful" again fell for an hour or so.

Such a snow as this will probably not visit this part of Louisiana during the lives of the present generation, and many of them will in years to come think of St. Valentine's Day in 1895 with pleasant recollections. This was the heaviest snow for the country of which there is any record. Some of the older inhabitants can cite three or four instances when the snow has fallen, but previously the fall had been light and the flakes soon melted after reaching the ground. The younger generation had seen snow only on one occasion and that during the extreme cold weather of January 1886.

The citizenry took the time to play in the snow. Says the Signal report:

The world in its shroud of white was a mystery to the little ones, who had never before seen snow, and for a time they could only gaze in wonder.

People talked of nothing save the weather. The occasion was a holiday for the Louisianian who is unaccustomed to such a scene and business was practically suspended. By nine o'clock Thursday the snow had fallen to a depth to make snow balls plentiful and then the fun began. Louisiana was out in full force, together with a complement of "snow-diggers," and the citizen who dared venture upon the street was woefully pelted with snow balls and, if caught, a few turns in the snow were thrown in for good measure.

Business and professional men, together with a number of such youthfuls as Sheriff Lyons, Councilman Toter, Mayor Chappuis, Marshal Wimberly, Hiram and Will Carver, J. D. Marks and a score of others joined in the sport.

The brigade spread itself out along Parkerson Ave. and woe to the man who stuck his nose out of doors. They respected neither age nor color and when windows got in the way a snowball quickly removed the pane. It was sport the like of which had never been seen in this country, and in its enthusiasm the crowd knew no limit. A few who were forcibly taken from their places of business and rolled in the snow were inclined to get mad, but a snow ball down the back of the neck usually sufficed to cool them off.

Messrs. Judd and Loewer on discovering the fine prospects for sleighing Thursday morning, set to work and built a neat cutter and named it "The Sunny South." They hitched on a pair of Mr. Judd's fine trotters and were soon speeding through the streets of Crowley in regular Nebraska style. They drove the finest rig in town.

There were similar stories all across the state. This is from New Orleans' Daily Picayune of Feb. 15, 1895:

There was not a sled, nor a snow plow, nor a sleigh in New Orleans day before yesterday. But improvised sleds and sleighs have been made and the uncommon sight of them in the streets called forth cheers from the pedestrians. The rarity of snow made the people revel in it. Embracing the opportunity, the old and the young got out from before the fire and rolled up snow men and women and cast snowballs and frolicked just like a lot of children suddenly freed from the tediousness and restraint of the classroom. Drifts measured from 10 inches to one foot.

From the Daily Advocate in Baton Rouge on Feb. 15:

The snow on our office gallery at 6 o'clock this morning was 10 inches, the deepest ever seen in this city. Sleighs could be seen going at a fast pace and the business of the city was suspended everywhere with everyone enjoying the sport.

The Weekly Sentinel in Thibodaux reported on Feb. 16:

Beginning Wednesday night February 13, snow began to fall around midnight and by noon of the next day had accumulated to a depth of 12 inches. The boys made the best of the opportunity presented to them, and the day was passed in such a variety of snowballing as had never been practiced in Thibodaux. It was fun to them, but the unlucky pedestrian, who was compelled to go on the streets could not appreciate it.

And the Opelousas Courier of Feb. 16 carried this account:

On Wednesday night, shortly after 9 o'clock, it began snowing, and when the good people of Opelousas opened their eyes on Thursday morning the whole face of nature was covered with a white mantle two or three inches thick. The snow fell all day without the least intermission giving the town quite an Arctic appearance.

On Feb. 23. Thibodaux's Weekly Sentinel reported:

The snow that fell in this place on February 14 finally disappeared on February 21. This is, no doubt, the longest period that anyone living here has ever witnessed snow remaining on the earth. The general depth was 13 to 16 inches but at Houston, Texas, the claim is that 24 inches were had.