Does anybody remember the Louisiana snowfall of Feb 1988?

[cajungal]

Okay. Everyone has been remembering December 23, 1989 Louisiana snowfall. But, it also snowed the year before in February 1988. I was 11 years old. The snow started falling late at night when everyone was asleep. I woke up that morning to find the yard covered in a inch of snow. I was surprized and that was my first snow experience here. In December 1989 the snow fell for longer periods. We picked up about 4 inches then. The snow fell almost all day. And that was the first time I actually got to see it fall.

[W13]

What is the most accumulation Lousiniana has had in a 24 Hour period?

[CajunMama]

I remember the Feb. '88 snow. We were living in our first home. We built a snowman for my son who was 4 years old at the time (while my 7 month old slept). Then Daddy and Son bombarded me with snowballs! I have pics somewhere of that snow.

[Huckster]

The most snow to ever fall in Louisiana was in 1895, Feb. 14-15 if I remember correctly. The town of Rayne got 24 inches. That was from the same storm that brought something like 20 inches to Houston and 31 inches to Beaumont. Brownsville also got snow, much heavier than this most recent event event. New Orleans got a pretty heavy snow as well, like 7 or 8 inches I believe. The Mississippi River started to actually freeze here in Baton Rouge during that storm. In 1899, another serious snow event occured around here. I haven't seen any exact figures, but I know the snow fell on the 11th or 12th of Feb., and as late as Feb. 18, there was still 5 inches of "slush" in the streets of Baton Rouge, according to the newspaper. Another big snow may have happened in January of 1886. I know Galveston got heavy snow and a severe cold outbreak followed. A big snowstorm struck north Louisiana in December of 1929 and dropped somewhere around a foot of snow. The most recent really heavy snowstorm I know of happened at the end of December, 1963. New Orleans got 4.5 inches and Slidell got 9 inches, according to the NWS. There was also very heavy snow along the Mississippi coast, and I think all the way up into east central Mississippi. I think there were some other big snows across LA in 1960 and 1973. Maybe someone can shed some light on those events.

[cajungal]

After the devestating Hurricane of 1900, Galveston saw snow falling on their beaches that winter. It is listed in the book Isaac's storm that I own. You have to read that book. It is fascinating. Sometimes after a bad hurricane season, you get these winter outbreaks.

[southerngale]

The most snow to ever fall in Louisiana was in 1895, Feb. 14-15 if I remember correctly. The town of Rayne got 24 inches. That was from the same storm that brought something like 20 inches to Houston and 31 inches to Beaumont. Brownsville also got snow, much heavier than this most recent event event. New Orleans got a pretty heavy snow as well, like 7 or 8 inches I believe. The Mississippi River started to actually freeze here in Baton Rouge during that storm. In 1899, another serious snow event occured around here. I haven't seen any exact figures, but I know the snow fell on the 11th or 12th of Feb., and as late as Feb. 18, there was still 5 inches of "slush" in the streets of Baton Rouge, according to the newspaper. Another big snow may have happened in January of 1886. I know Galveston got heavy snow and a severe cold outbreak followed. A big snowstorm struck north Louisiana in December of 1929 and dropped somewhere around a foot of snow. The most recent really heavy snowstorm I know of happened at the end of December, 1963. New Orleans got 4.5 inches and Slidell got 9 inches, according to the NWS. There was also very heavy snow along the Mississippi coast, and I think all the way up into east central Mississippi. I think there were some other big snows across LA in 1960 and 1973. Maybe someone can shed some light on those events.

I remember the snow of 1895. LOL - well, I remember reading about it.
There were ice skaters on SABINE LAKE!! Now I'd love to see something like that again!

What I don't know is what the conditions were back then. Has anyone ever researched what exactly caused the major snows and freezing temps back then?


Here's an interesting article about the 1895 snow.

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic ... light=snow