It's a natural thing. Very bad disaster caused by a young world + the lack of any kind of wind break in the southern continent.
Also, Three.
@Everyone else. See?
He gets it.
“She'd become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do. And she'd taken to it well. She'd sworn that if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she'd beat herself to death with her own umbrella.”
― Hogfather