The week of Jan. 19, 2025, will go down in U.S. history as the one in which Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president, completing a once-thought-unlikely return to the White House.
For Floridians, it may be remembered more for how the Sunshine State was transformed into a rare winter wonderland.
Record snowfall fell across the Panhandle, with some parts receiving as much as 10 inches.
While the storm produced some treacherous conditions, with ice forcing several roads — including Interstate 10 — to shut down for a period and schools to close, other parts of the state opened weather shelters due to the freezing conditions. Meantime, some residents took advantage of the rare snow days to build snowmen and find clever ways to sled and snowboard during what may have been a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Soaking in the snow
Wyatt Walker, 8, had never seen snow. So Tuesday's storm was the perfect opportunity for him and his family to head to Bayview Park in Pensacola.
"It’s just surprising — the snow in Florida — because it’s named the Sunshine State," Walker told WUWF as they were about to head out around lunchtime. "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."
At that point, several dozen people had already made their way to the park.
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"I think it’s magical," said Sierra Hobbs, who improvised by using a plastic lid from a storage bin as a sled. "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."
Others took the opportunity to just take in the spectacle from the warmth of their homes.
"I spent the last two days observing from the house and walking around the yard and sitting outside on my back porch patio, just observing the beauty indoors," Glenn Rubin told "The Florida Roundup" while traveling on I-10 as he was leaving Panama City. "I enjoy cooking. I did a couple dishes and drank a lot of hot beverage.
"I made sweet potato puffs in the morning, and I made a date nut torte in the evening."
Theresa Schretzmann-Myers called in from the Butler Chain of Lakes in Orange County.
"I sent the day at Wekiva Springs State Park (in Apopka) looking at the manatees who were trying to stay warm in the springs at 72 degrees," she told "The Florida Roundup."
The last time Florida recorded significant snowfall was in January 1977. Schretzmann-Myers, who says she is Florida "born and bred," recalls that "we were snowed in at our ranch and farm in North Central Florida."
Why Florida got snow
Megan Borowski, a meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network, said the final tally shows Ferry Pass near Pensacola received 10 inches of snow, along with Jay and Milton in Santa Rosa County. Other areas had more than a half-foot.
She said a trough of low pressure in the midlevel of the atmosphere and winds from the north were the catalysts for not only the snow, but also the frigid conditions that persisted across the state for most of the week.
Borowski said it extended "anywhere from the Great Lakes all the way down to the southern Plains. And that kind of scooped eastward, for the nontechnical term."
"We had a good amount of energy," Borowski said. "The trough extended very far south, and we were able to get a blast of cold air. Of course, we're sitting along the central Gulf Coast. So we have moisture in place. We had energy in the atmosphere. We had cold temperatures that blasted on in. And all of that kind of set the stage for this snowfall."
And while snow is not completely unusual in North Florida, Borowski said this type of weather was unprecedented.
"Out of all the events we've had over the last five or 10 years, it's only about a half-inch of accumulation, maybe a quarter an inch of ice," Borowski said. "But these numbers, I mean, this is going to go down in the record books for probably the winter storm of the century."
Borowski also pointed out one possible upside. All the snow and rain could help put a small dent in the drought conditions over much of the state.
