A 'Blue Norther' Will Plunge Through The Plains. Here's What That Means.

Have You Ever Heard Of A Blue Norther?

Sign up for the Morning Brief email newsletter to get weekday updates from The Weather Channel and our meteorologists.

A "Blue Norther" is expected to sweep through the central U.S. this weekend, bringing sudden, sharply colder air to the Plains states.

(​MAPS: Current Temps | 10-Day US Forecast Highs/Lows)

W​hat is a Blue Norther? These are strong cold fronts that plunge rapidly southward through the High Plains from late autumn through winter and spring.

While the "norther" part of the term refers to the stiff northerly winds behind the front, the origin of the term "blue" isn't clear, according to the Texas State Historical Association.

(Further beef up your forecast with our detailed, hour-by-hour breakdown for the next 8 days – only available on our Premium Pro experience.)

W​hat weather typically occurs? Blue Northers feature a sharp downward crash in temperature – often 40 degrees or more in minutes – accompanied by strong, chilly north winds. In these cases, one could go from wearing t-shirts and shorts outside to needing a winter jacket.

A​ccording to the National Weather Service, they often sweep through dry, sometimes without any clouds.

But if there is enough moisture, the front's leading edge can be in the form of a cigar-shaped roll cloud ​or a bank of dark, blue clouds could accompany the front. And if there's moisture aloft seeding that lower-level cold air, snow, sleet, freezing rain or just a cold rain can result behind the front.

W​hy do they move so fast? These Blue Northers can move at forward speeds of 40 mph or faster, making the trip from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico in less than two days.

T​hey do that when cold high pressure builds in western Canada and then is let loose by upper-level winds that flow southward into the Plains.

T​his dense, flowing cold air banks against the eastern slopes of the Rockies and accelerates through the relatively treeless Plains.

W​hat are some examples?

On Feb. 27, 2024, wind gusts from 60 to 70 mph fanned wildfires in the Texas Panhandle into an inferno. Eventually, the Smokehouse Creek wildfire northeast of Amarillo would burn more than 1 million acres, the largest in state records dating to 1988.

T​hat night, a Blue Norther plunged through and switched the direction of fire spread toward the south, as seen in the remarkable satellite imagery below. It also drove a wall of smoke resembling a dust storm into Amarillo and other parts of northwest Texas.

As the fire set a new state record two days later, snow briefly fell over some of the fire-charred areas.

1​1/11/1911

W​hile also regionally a Blue Norther, one could argue this was America's most extreme cold front, as senior meteorologist Chris Dolce previously discussed.

M​uch of the southern High Plains, including the Texas Panhandle, saw temperatures nosedive over 40 degrees in a few minutes.

Amarillo, Texas, went from a high of 70 degrees to a low of 13 that day. Oklahoma City set both a daily record high (83 degrees) before the front, and a daily record low (17) after the front on the same day. A dust storm also swept over the Sooner State.

N​ation's Worst Cold Outbreak

A​dding an exclamation point to a two-week siege widely considered the nation's worst, most prolific cold outbreak, a Blue Norther plowed through the Plains on Feb. 10 and 11, 1899.

T​emperatures as cold as minus 23 degrees were recorded in the Texas Panhandle, still the state's all-time record low today. Dallas-Fort Worth plunged to minus 8, which was 6 degrees colder than the peak of the February 2021 cold outbreak.

The San Antonio River froze for the first time since 1882, and some residents skated on the river, according to "Extreme American Weather" by Tim Vasquez. Some ice even formed in Galveston Bay.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.​