Snow in Florida!
There’s a lot of talk about the possibility of snow in Florida this weekend but it’s not as rare as we all think it is….OK, yeah it is!
According to Wikipedia.com, there has been record of snow in Florida since 1774. Baker county received eight inches in 1797. More recently, there have been snow reports in Florida almost every year since 2003. Although Floridians will not be seen shoveling snow every year, it is an occurrence in Florida’s history. Here’s a list of snow occurrences in Florida since the turn of the century:
* January 24, 2003: A plume of Arctic air produces widespread record low temperatures and light snow flurries along the eastern coastline. The snow is described as ocean effect snow, identical to lake effect snow in that it occurs due to very cold air passing over relatively warm water temperatures. The snow reaches as far south as Fort Pierce.
* December 25, 2004: Locations along the Florida Panhandle receive a dusting of snow.
* November 21, 2006: An eastward moving weather system produces a very light dusting and snowflakes in central Florida. It is the first snow in November in the state since 1912.
* February 3, 2007: Very light snow flurries are reported in the northeastern panhandle, lasting less than an hour.
* January 3, 2008: Light snow flurries are reported near Daytona Beach.
* February 2008: Unofficial reports indicated a few snowflakes fell along The Nature Coast once or twice. Due to advancing Arctic air quickly descending from the northwest over relatively warm Gulf waters (whether or not it was virga is debatable).
* January 8, 2010: Very light dusting of snow seen in the eastern Jacksonville area.
The National Weather Service is predicting a possible rain/snow event in the Central Florida region on Saturday, January 9, 2010. Snow may possibly fall in the Orlando and Tampa Bay areas.
