
Surprise, surprise! Florida is in its winter era, as for the first time in a long time, the northern part of the state is seeing measurable amounts of snow. The rare weather event made its way to the Panhandle on Tuesday, where multiple inches have been reported in several cities and are even breaking records.
For instance, Pensacola smashed its 130-year-old record for snow with 7.6 inches. The previous record was set in 1895, with just three inches. Over in Milton, a whopping 9.8 inches fell on the ground, per the National Weather Service, making it the highest snow total on record for the state! The old record totaled 4 inches in 1954, also set in Milton.
It was quite the sight to see, as photos and videos shared across social media showed the “Welcome to Florida sign” and highway blanketed in snow. White sand beaches even began to transform into white snow beaches!
A state of emergency was issued for Northern Florida by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday, stating “all modes of hazardous winter weather will be likely, including snow, sleet, and freezing rain.” The snow is expected to end by late Wednesday.
How did Florida get this much snow?
The winter weather event arrived in Florida as a result of a historic storm sweeping across the Gulf Coast. It brought record-setting snow to cities in Texas and Louisiana, which reported totals in the double digits. Southern Louisiana also received its first-ever blizzard warning from the NWS.
When was the last time Florida saw snow?
While light flurries were reported back in 2022, Northern Florida hadn’t seen snow quite like this since 2018. It marked the region’s first winter storm since 1989 and the NWS reported minimal snow accumulations, with Tallahassee measuring just 0.1 inches of now.