Florida and other parts of the South appear to have shattered snowfall records in what many are calling a once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness sandy snowscapes on beaches, of all places.
A whopping 9.8 inches of snow fell near the small town of Milton, which would smash the Florida record for snowfall from 1954, if confirmed.
“It’s an incredible, incredible event,” said Michael Mugrage, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Mobile, Alabama, where many of the highest snowfall totals from the region were reported. “It puts it in perspective how rare this is.”
The snow total near Milton is unofficial for now, and will be reviewed by the state’s climate office.
Milton is just northeast of Pensacola, where 8.9 inches shattered the city’s previous all-time snow record of 3 inches set in 1895.
In Crestview, in Okaloosa County, up to 9 inches were reported.
Florida at one point, had 15,000 power outages, according to Duke Energy. That number was down to around 9,000 as of Wednesday afternoon, with Franklin and Wakulla counties having most of the outages.
Duke Energy spokesperson Ana Gibbs told WFSU that crew members have traveled across Florida, working to get power restored.
"These crews are turning the lights back on as safely and carefully as possible," she said.
The icy roads have made it difficult for workers to get to some of the locations, as parts of the Panhandle received several inches of snow.
“For the most part, the power poles have not been impacted, and that's important because replacing power poles takes a lot longer than putting back power lines. That is the good news in all of this," Gibbs continued.
Duke Energy expects power to be fully restored by Thursday morning.
The storm also closed a portion of Interstate 10 for a time, along with other roads across the Panhandle, due to the wintry conditions.
In Escambia County, workers were sanding bridges and monitoring other roadways for hazards to help make them accessible for emergency responders,” said Emergency Management Coordinator, Scottlin Williams.
“For public safety, we are upstaffed on EMS and fire crews. Dispatch has also augmented staff to be able to handle the workload," Williams said.
In Pensacola's East Hill neighborhood, 8-year-old Wyatt Walker and his family were preparing to head out to nearby Bayview Park on Tuesday around lunchtime. For Wyatt, who had never seen snow, it was a moment of pure excitement.
"It’s just surprising — the snow in Florida — because it’s named the Sunshine State," he noted. "In maybe one hour or two, me and my dad are going to go to the park, and we’re going to probably go snowboarding with my dad’s surfboard."
Meanwhile, at the city's Bayview Park, several dozen residents had already gathered, turning the grassy hills into makeshift ski slopes. For Sierra Hobbs, that meant the plastic lid to a storage bin.
"I think it’s magical," she said of the snow. "I think it’s wild. I think it’s very cool to see everyone have the exact same idea to come to the same park and sled on mostly makeshift sleds that are surfboards or skateboards without wheels or the lids to containers."
State offices will remain closed Thursday in Leon County and 14 other counties, according to the Florida Department of Management Services website.
Also, Florida State University, Florida A&M University and the University of West Florida will remain closed, the state Department of Education website said.
At College Town, an entertainment district near the FSU campus, a snowball fight late Tuesday ended with Tallahassee police deploying pepper balls to disperse an increasingly rowdy crowd. Pepper balls contain the same chemical used in pepper spray.
Tallahassee police said officers responded after complaints that bar patrons were throwing snowballs at passing cars. One person in a vehicle claimed to be struck in the head.
A 22-year-old FSU student was arrested after police said he hit an officer in the face with "ice projectiles."
In Northeast Florida, some locations also received a rare dusting of snow.
Icy roads forced Jacksonville safety officials to close the Hart, Matthews and Main Street bridges Wednesday morning, but all three major spans were reopened before noon.
Although there was no snow in Gainesville, there were sleet and heavy wind gusts in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The University of Florida canceled classes until 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Information from WFSU, WJCT, WUFT and WUWF was used in this report.
