Colder Than a Blue Norther?

Ever seen a blue norther coming at you in the Texas Panhandle? It’s a pretty impressive sight.

A blue norther is a cold front advancing against very warm air but without causing rain. They actually look blue, and you can see a blue norther like a big blue wall coming toward you. Blue northers are especially impressive in the Great Plains of North Texas.

Often the first cold front of the year is in the form of a blue norther. The temperative difference on either side of the front can be 50 degrees or more. I’ve seen the weather go from hot to freezing in minutes. Pretty scary if you’re outdoors far from shelter without a coat.

We seldom see blue northers as far south as Houston, but down here where it gets so hot, blue northers are generally sort of welcome in the city. They blow through like a cleansing wind, not only cooling things down but blowing away a lot of the pollution. Though they are not so nice for people who have to work outside.

When I was a kid, Mama liked to wait for a good norther to come in so she could do a bunch of baking. She would scour the kitchen till it shone, open up the kitchen windows (which faced north), and let the clean air blow through while she cooked all day long.

So when you watch the national weather news, and they show a clear cold front (no rain or snow) stretching across the Great Plains with warm temperatures in front and very cold temperatures behind it, now you can visualize a blue norther coming at you across the plains.

A blue norther is not really any colder than other northers, but it seems that way because of the sudden and huge drop in temperature—and the fact that people are often caught unprepared. I hope you brought your jacket!