Do You Remember When the Red River Froze?
2020 has been - to put it mildly - one of the most unusual (okay, horrible) years in recent memory. From COVID to hurricanes to crime, this has been a year that almost everyone wants to forget.
But at least it hasn't been cold.
No, no, no. We don't mean "Shreveport winter" cold, where it stays cloudy, a little rainy and temps stay in the mid-40s for a bout a week. We're talking real cold. East coast cold. New England cold. Minnesota cold.
Just like it was in Shreveport in December of 1983.
The month started normal enough, but by mid-December, temps started to fall. From the book Outstanding Weather Phenomena In the ArkLaTex: An Incomplete History, by Billy Andrews:
"A record cold wave followed with very cold temperatures sweeping southward across the ArkLaTex, producing the coldest arctic air since December 1963. December 1983 ended up being the coldest of record"
Amazingly, the record cold wave that enveloped the area not only hung on, it got worse. Andrews continues:
"Temperatures remained at freezing or below for 138 consecutive hours from the 21st through the 27th"
Then, something that hadn't occurred for nearly 90 years!
"The year 1983 will also be remembered as the year the Red River froze from bank to bank. Chunks of ice had formed to north of the city and spread south through the area before melting. The magnitude of the ice jam on the Red in Shreveport, Monday the 19th and Tuesday the 20th, probably has not occurred since February of 1895."