It snowed in Florida? See the photos. How much more is forecast — and what about Miami?
“IT’S SNOWING IN FLORIDA!,” Florida TV meteorologist Matt Devitt posted in caps on Facebook and X around noon Tuesday.
“I just took this picture in the Panhandle moments ago along Route 97 north of Pensacola. More snow is on the way!” the Southwest Florida WINK meteorologist captioned an image of a “Welcome to the Free State of Florida” road sign.
“I’m so glad I’m so much farther south. I moved to Florida to get away from the snow!” commented Jennifer Saxon Halam on his post. According to her Facebook, she lives in Englewood on Florida’s west coast about 88 miles south of Tampa. But just wait: Weather Underground forecasts a low of 38 there next Saturday morning.
Snow warnings in North Florida
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee issued a warning Tuesday afternoon that people should expect “extremely dangerous driving conditions” as rush hour approached.
“Heavy snow bands over the Florida Panhandle into southeast Alabama with gusty winds of 25-30 mph could cause blowing snow and near whiteout conditions. PLEASE STAY OFF THE ROADS! This could become a life-threatening situation for those stranded,” weather service forecasters wrote on Facebook.
Tallahassee is looking at temperatures around 25 degrees after midnight into 8 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday, according to Weather Underground.
Pensacola hits a low of 18 degrees at 8 a.m. Wednesday with a “feels-like” temperature of 8 degrees at its coldest.
Between two and four inches of snow could fall in Pensacola and two inches of snow and ice in Tallahassee and Panama City, The Center Square reported.
“This is not typically the type of disaster or emergency situation that we’re used to responding to, but because of that, we’re taking it seriously,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference in Tallahassee. “If this were South Dakota or Minnesota, this is probably something that they’re just used to all the time, not something that we’re used to having in the state of Florida. If you don’t need to be out, just stay in indoors and let it get taken care of.”
Gainesville drops below freezing, to 31 degrees, by 6 a.m. Wednesday at its low point, Weather Underground forecasts.
Kristen Carline of Pensacola posted a photo of a snow angel on the wood patio on her Instagram and Facebook pages. “Well, it’s snowing in Florida. I had to make a snow angel,” she posted.
“Proof that hell has frozen over, people. Pensacola, Florida. They say it’s been over 30 years since there’s been an event like this,” the voice of an account titled provokedthoughtofmind says in a video voice-over on an Instagram post Tuesday. The image shows a street of apartments glazed with falling snow. The roofs of cars in parking lots are more than simply dusted as was the case in Miami way back on Jan. 19, 1977, the first and only time since snow was recorded in Miami just around the time President Jimmy Carter took his oath of office during his inauguration.
READ MORE: Did it ever snow in Miami? Take a look at this January day
One digital sign was so bamboozled by the falling snow and crews casting salt along the roadways at The First City Church the sign mistakenly showed a temperature of -194 degrees along Cervantes Street as more expected snow approached the Pensacola area, the News Journal reported.
State Rep. Michelle Salzman, a Republican from Pensacola, posted videos of falling snow and a smiling, bundled-up youngster standing in the snow. “Little snow angels in Florida’s First District,” Salzman wrote.
Santa Rosa County officials posted that “all roads and bridges in Santa Rosa County should be considered IMPASSABLE until further notice” on Tuesday afternoon, the Pensacola News Journal reported. “Members of the general public are advised that when roads and bridges become impassable, all travel should be suspended or delayed.”
What about Miami?
Miami, meanwhile, hits a low of 60 degrees at 6 a.m. Wednesday from this front. But cooler air will work its way to South Florida and frost and freeze warnings could be issued over the weekend for inland southeastern Florida, the National Weather Service in Miami said in a hazardous weather outlook on Tuesday.
Miami is looking at a low of 51 at 8 a.m. Friday and colder Saturday at 47 degrees from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. with “feels-like” wind chills of 43, according to Weather Underground.
The temperatures inch back up in Miami and Fort Lauderdale on Sunday.
On Tuesday, when Miami climbed to 80, Pensacola shivered at 25.
“A difference in temp of 55 degrees across our state,” meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Miami observed.
This story was originally published January 21, 2025 at 4:49 PM.
