Snowstorms in the South: An Historical Perspective

[steve2470]

https://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/snowstorms-in-the-south-an-historical-perspective.html

The following is a summary of the all-time greatest snowstorms to have been observed in the Gulf and Deep South Region.

JANUARY 9-11, 1800: Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina

The single greatest snow accumulations ever reported from Florida to coastal Georgia and coastal South Carolina occurred on January 9-11 some 211 years ago in 1800. A survey party demarcating the border between Florida and Georgia was encamped at the mouth of St. Mary’s River near where Ft. Clinch State Park is now just north of the current site of Jacksonville, Florida. They reported heavy snow most of the day and night of January 10th and awoke to 5” of snow cover. More may have actually fallen and melted prior to sunrise on the 11th when they made their observation. In and around Savannah, Georgia 18” of snow fell with drifts up to 3-feet. Here the snow fell continuously for a 36-hour period from late evening January 9th until early morning January 11th. In Charleston, South Carolina, the State Gazette reported 8” of snow on level with severe drifting and gales. It would appear that Charleston was on the northern edge of the heaviest accumulations which were centered around Savannah. (For more about this event see Early American Winters: 1604-1820 pp. 159-160, by David M. Ludlum, American Meteorological Society, Boston, 1966).


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Aside from the snow event of 1800 readers might be curious as to what the modern snowfall records are for Florida. The greatest ‘statewide’ snowfall occurred during the famous East Coast blizzard and cold wave of February 1899 (the same event that brought sub-zero temperatures to Florida for the first and only time). On February 13th, 1899 snow flakes were observed as far south as Fort Meyers and a general 1”+ accumulation occurred statewide north of Gainesville. Jacksonville recorded its greatest modern accumulation of 1.9”, 2.1” was measured at Pensacola, and up to 6” was anecdotally reported near the Georgia border in northwest Florida. The highest official amount was 3.5” at Haywood.

The furthest south snow flakes have been reported is at Homestead (south of Miami 25° 18’ N) on January 19, 1977. The deepest snowfall officially measured in the state is 4.0” at Milton Experimental Station in the NW corner on March 6, 1954.

[yallerdawg]

1. In the Winter of 1979-80...

I looked out my hotel room and watched it snow on Collins Avenue, Miami Beach.

It didn't stick or accumulate - but when you are down there to stay warm for the winter, you understand what a complete dupe South Florida is when it comes to EVERYTHING!