COLD FRIDAY.
Nothing particularly interesting occurred during 1807,
except the ever memorable "Cold Friday," which was the subject of talk for
years among those who felt its piercing chills.
Mr. Collins says: "On Thursday, February, 1807, the
mercury was caused to fall sixty degrees within twelve hours by the cold
winds. At nightfall it was mild and cloudy. After night it commenced
raining with a high west wind. This rain soon changed to a snow, which
continued to fall rapidly to the depth of six inches, but the wind, which
moved at the rate of a hurricane, soon lifted and dispersed the clouds,
and within the short space of twelve hours from the close of a very mild
Thursday, all Kentucky was treated to a gentle rain, a violent snow storm,
and a bright sunshine morning, so bitterly cold that by acclamation it was
termed "Cold Friday." On the morning of this day the trees in the forests
were cracking like the report of guns, and everything was bound in the
fetters of ice."
History of Henderson County, Kentucky
by Edmund L. Starling
p. 123
published in 1887
public domain material
