Twenty Two Inches of Snow in Houston…1895

This article was from the Galveston Daily News on Sunday, February 17, 1895, describing the scene in Houston after twenty two inches of snow fell in the Texas coastal city.

That’s not a misprint. Twenty two (22 inches.)

The snow, which fell on the 14th-15th, was caused by a big Gulf low pressure system and an arctic airmass that settled into the nation’s midsection. The pressure at the center of the sprawling anticyclone was nearly 31.00 inches. Nine inches of snow fell in New Orleans, 15 inches in Galveston, 24 inches in Rayne, Louisiana, six inches in Brownsville, Texas and Mobile, Alabama.

SHOVELING SNOW.
The people, or many of them, of Houston are shoveling snow to-day. They are moving it from the sidewalks, crossings, awnings and housetops. The sun is helping, and the two forces are getting it out of sight very rapidly. There was a little sleighing to-day, but it was very heavy because the frequent passing of vehicles and horses along the streets had ground the snow and made it into a slush that made sleighing little better than pulling through the mid. The greatest average depth the snow attained here was twenty or twenty two inches, the exact depth being still in dispute. This evening it is down to six or eight inches and melting very rapidly. Hopes that sleighing would be good tomorrow forenoon have been dissipated by the effect of the melting rays of the sun. There seems to be no doubt of the sanitary benefit from the cold spell and the cold spell and the permeating and purifying touch of the snow, but the harmful effects upon vegetation for the present are conceded.
No man, nor woman, nor page of history has been found that recalls anything to compare with this in the past, in this part of the country.
Its effect on cattle is said by stockmen to have been very disastrous. From some members of the Southeast Texas livestock association an estimate has been obtained which places the loss above 25 percent. One speaking of it said, “The loss is greater to-day than it would have been ten or fifteen years ago, other things being equal because of the wire fencing that has cut the stick off from the bottoms. Cattle will never move against the wind, rain, sleet or snow, but drift with it as soon as it starts. They used to turn their backs to the northers and gradually drift into the bottoms, where they would get protection by the trees and some kind of green food that would keep life in them till the severity of the cold passed. Now it is different. They are driven by the cold against some wire fence and there they stop and freeze and starve to death.”

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