How Soon Forgotten

  There was an "unheard of " weather phenomenon here in Biloxi this past week.  THERE WAS ICE ON BILOXI BACK BAY!!!  Yeah, right. Unheard of...some folks must never get out of their warm, cozy beds before the sun is well up above the horizon.  Ice on the Bay...pffft!  Like that has never happened before in history.  The local news folks had a heyday with this earth-shaking news.  Granted, it does not happen every year because, well face it, we are in the Deep South where things are a tad warmer but ice does occur and ice on the Bay does happen regularly.  People are just too wimpy to get out in the cold to see it.  The phenomenon that was making the news was captured by a weather camera and not a real live person and the quantity of ice amounted to little more than some crunchy particles near the marsh edge.  Still, ice on the Bay is fun, in a weird sort of way and even though the temperatures are not too bad, there was ice again this morning (but no one was excited this time!).

  Now, back in 1936, things were a bit more exciting.  Pop and my Uncle Jim, both, told stories of the time that the Bay froze.  Not just a little frosting along the edge but it froze almost all the way across.  THAT was unusual and cause for an uproar.  The fact that the weather was cold enough that year for so much ice to form was rare and, of course, these two guys had to have a story to go along with it.  When they got out of bed at daybreak to find so much ice, these two fellows got the bright idea to shove the old canoe out on the ice sheeting.  Being adventurous young men, they thought it would be great fun to skid across that ice. Sure enough, their shaky plan worked and the canoe slid along with ease.  A good  poke with a pole sent them scooting across the ice.  They were having a grand time when they spied the first fish.  It seems that the cold, icy water had stunned the fish enough that many were floating on or near the surface.  The two young men started breaking the ice and grabbing the fish with their bare hands.  The canoe filled quickly so they headed back to the house.  Once there, they hauled their catch to the house and proudly presented it to their mom (my grandmother).   She reprimanded them for bringing home "dead fish" and told them that the fish were not fit to eat.  "Go make a fire and get the big kettle hot.  Cook those fish for the hogs!"  So, the boys did just that but once they put the frozen fish in that warm water, they came back to life!  Amidst the peals of laughter, the two young men called to their mom.  "Come see our dead fish now!"  She was amazed and told them to quickly get the fish out of the kettle and clean them.  "We will smoke the fish!"  So, the fish were smoked and provided a good many meals for the farm family!

  This tale was told at all family functions and the tale grew with each telling but, it just goes to show, that the Back Bay of Biloxi really did freeze one year and that year was 1936!  It seems to me that with all of the archives associated with news papers, someone should have done a bit of research before proclaiming "2018 is the FIRST year for ice to form on the Back Bay!"  Obviously, someone is not doing his/her job very well.  It took a grand total of 14 seconds to find the exact year that the event took place and to verify Pop's story. (The Internet is an amazing tool.)