Florida braces for most significant snow, ice event since Christmas week snowstorm of 1989

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida spent Tuesday preparing for its most significant bout of winter weather since 1989, with airports closing and officials calling for residents in the western Panhandle to stay off the roads.

National Weather Service offices along the Interstate 10 corridor issued a rare Winter Storm Warning for counties from Pensacola to Jacksonville and warned of snow and ice accumulations that could reach 4″ over the next 24 hours.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency on Monday ahead of the wintry mess and said that for communities in the Panhandle, the wintry mess could be record-breaking.

The all-time greatest snowfall in the Sunshine State is 4″ in Milton, outside of Pensacola, on March 6, 1954; however, there are several unconfirmed reports of higher amounts that occurred during the 1800s and 1900s.

A trained weather spotter on Tuesday reported around 5.5″ of snow in Escambia County, but the accumulation still needed to verified by the NWS.

“I don’t have to tell anybody that we’re not necessarily used to walking in a winter wonderland here in Florida,” DeSantis said during a news briefing at the state’s emergency operations center.

The FOX Forecast Center said the greatest threat for wintry precipitation was from sunset Tuesday until around noon on Wednesday, when temperatures were expected to climb above the freezing mark.

Utility providers across the I-10 corridor were preparing for weather-related outages, which would likely occur if a significant amount of ice fell.

FOX Weather Meteorologist Steve Bender was in Tallahassee on Tuesday, waiting for the liquid precipitation to change over to freezing rain and even snow.

The capital city appeared similar to a ghost town as residents were not willing to take the storm for granted, especially after an active hurricane season in the region.

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Delays and cancelations mount

Most school districts between Jacksonville and Pensacola canceled classes on Wednesday, including major universities such as Florida State University, FAMU, the University of North Florida and the University of Florida in Gainesville. 

All flights into and out of the Tallahassee International Airport were canceled as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, with the intention of restoring operations by noon Wednesday.

Similar cancelations were planned at the Jacksonville International Airport, where the last departing flight was expected to leave around 8 p.m., with operations returning to normal by noon on Wednesday.

Any type of frozen precipitation can be problematic for the region, as communities lack the necessary equipment, such as treatment trucks and snowplows, to keep roadways and airports clear of hazardous travel conditions.

Naval Air Station Pensacola’s main gate was closed to both inbound and outbound traffic on Tuesday afternoon as a mix of wintry precipitation moved in from the west.

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Greatest winter storm threat in Florida since 1989

In North Florida and many other cities across the Southeast, the Christmas week snowstorm of 1989 holds many records and serves as a benchmark for all other winter precipitation events.

The historic storm system developed on Dec. 22 before moving across the Sunshine State and off the Atlantic coast.

Wilmington, North Carolina, reported seeing 15 inches of snow, while Jacksonville, Florida, saw nearly 2 inches.

A swath of between 1-4″ of snow generally stretched along the Interstate 10 corridor from Tallahassee and Florida’s Big Bend to Jacksonville and points northward.

According to the NWS, the frozen weather event caused widespread power outages and severe crop damage, as arctic temperatures gripped the region for days.