WEST COAST OF FLORIDA — Old Man Winter descended big time on the Florida Peninsula this Saturday morning, bringing cold rain, sleet, and snow to the majority of the Sunshine State. This weekend has brought back many memories for people of the 1977 snowstorm that accumulated as far south as Miami and Homestead.
As the sun rose this morning, most of the Florida Peninsula woke up to rain/sleet with temps hovering around 35-36 and continuing to fall. Between 8 and 9 AM, the rain/frozen precipitation line ran right along the I-4 corridor. The St. Pete area saw sleet, but no snow. Tampa saw sleet and a few snowflakes, and snow sightings were reported all along the west coast from Panama City all the way to Naples. I have not heard any reports from the East Coast yet.
There were two very strange things that I saw this morning, having lived through many winters in New England…
First, as I was driving around this morning, looking at the dark skies and icy rain hitting the windshield, I couldn’t quite get my head around the concept of it being that cold, that dark, and having rain and ice hit the windshield, and then looking up and seeing palm trees.
Second, watching the Weather Channel this morning, the conditions scrolling across the bottom of the screen reading “Atlanta: Partly Cloudy, 15°F, Jacksonville, Cloudy, 26°F, Tampa: Wintry Mix, 33°F, Orlando: Light Snow, 30°F,…”