From the Annals of the Blue Northers – In 1899, the temperature dropped to -23 in Tulia.  This was the coldest temperature ever recorded in Texas.  The frigid temperature was part of the “Big Freeze” – one of the coldest cold fronts ever to cross Texas.  It was estimated that more than 40,000 cattle died as a result of the severe conditions.  The unusual weather pattern was part of the Great Blizzard of 1899  which affected the eastern half of North America from Saskatchewan to Cuba. The storm, which started in Canada on February 11th and continued through the 14th, was notable in part because it disproportionately affected southern locales that were used to seeing much milder winter conditions.