FARGO — The heavy snow that fell across the Gulf Coast on Tuesday certainly got people's attention. Heavy snow in places like New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., is exceedingly rare. However, such a thing is not unprecedented and should not be taken as an example of weather going wrong. These locations do get measurable snow, if only every 10 years or so. Heavy snow to the tune of a foot or so is extremely rare so far south, but this has happened before as well.
The Great Gulf Coast snowstorm of 1895 left up to 30 inches of snow in and around Beaumont, Texas, and more than a foot and a half in Houston. New Orleans was buried by 8.5 inches of snow in that storm, not to mention afternoon temperatures in the teens with blowing snow. The fact that these things are so rare does not make them unusual. The variable nature of weather suggests that extremely rare weather should be expected, just not very often.
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