30th anniversary of snow in South Florida

[jaybo]

On January 19th, 1977, snow fell in South Florida for the first time in recorded history. Residents and visitors were both surprised and thrilled at the rare phenomena, and local newspapers ran headlines which were nearly as big as it would be for major National or world events. Snow was seen across all of Southeast Florida as far south as Homestead and even on Miami Beach. Reports of snow were also received at Freeport, Grand Bahama Island on the other side of the Gulf Stream from Southeast Florida.

Although snow in Florida is not as rare as it is believed to be, the farthest south snow had been previously observed was along a Fort Myers to Fort Pierce line in February 1899.  

The snow came on the heels of a strong Arctic cold front which moved rapidly down the Florida Peninsula from late on January 18th through the pre-dawn hours of January 19th. A band of precipitation followed the passage of the Arctic front, and every reporting station in north and central Florida recorded at least a trace of snow. Tampa

measured .20 inches and Plant City, east of Tampa, measured up to 2 inches of the white stuff. West Palm Beach reported its first snowfall on record at 6:10 am, and continued to report light snow through 8 am. Rain began to mix with snow over areas farther south,

and eventually fell as snow flurries across Broward and Miami-Dade counties between 8 and 9:30 am. Miami International Airport, the official reporting site for Miami, did not observe the snowfall, and as a result an asterisk is included in the precipitation records to indicate the widespread reports of snow on the morning of January

19th.  

It is interesting to note that although air temperatures were slightly above freezing when the snow fell, the freezing level on the morning of the 19th was at 1,500 feet above sea level, which is at a very low altitude for South Florida. This prevented the precipitation from melting before reaching the ground.

The snow occurred during a prolonged period of very cold

temperatures in South Florida. The first Arctic front moved through the region late on the afternoon of January 16th, and temperatures failed to reach the 60 degree mark in Miami for four consecutive days from January 17th to the 20th. The coldest air and snow arrived with the second Arctic front on the 19th, with the afternoon high only reaching the mid to upper 40s. Miami's afternoon high of 47 degrees was the second coldest afternoon high on record.  

The most significant impact of the very cold air was felt on the night of the 19th and morning of the 20th, when temperatures dropped to at or below freezing everywhere in South Florida.

Here are some of the low temperatures recorded across South Florida on the morning of January 20th:

Location low temperature

-----------------------------------------

LaBelle      19 *

Devils Garden      20 *

Homestead agricultural ctr  23

Immokalee      24

Belle Glade      24

Moore Haven      25

North Miami Beach 25

Naples      26

West Palm Beach   27 *

Fort Lauderdale    28 *

Hollywood      28

Miami international      31

Miami Beach      32 *

* indicates all-time low temperature record at that location

Temperatures over interior and western sections of South Florida were at or below freezing for 10-14 hours, and some locations were at or below 28 degrees for 4 to 8 hours. The extended duration of freezing temperatures devastated the agricultural community in South Florida.

[ZoneTenNut]

Jaybo,

Very interesting reading. Those are some cold temps and long durations. To be sure that did some damage down here. Good thing they are rare events. Lets hope the next one is a long way away.

Roger

[NBTX11]

Good article, but how much "snow" could have actually fell, if the intl airport didn't even record any.  Are we talking about flurries for a few minutes or or something more.

[ZoneTenNut]

Today being the anniversary of this event, its in all the local newspapers and TV stations. Local NBC showed video of the snow falling with coconut palms in the background. There's an interesting article in this mornings SunSentinel with with eye witness accounts and some addtl. info. on the event. Here's a link to it.

Sun Sentinel article on snow event

[SunnyFl]

I remember that winter too well  

It was during my very brief 2 years Up North  Which was 2 years 2 long.   The temps where I lived up there were atrocious, don't know the actual numbers except it was bone-chilling, miserable and it's all too dark.  Thought it would be the end of me.

There was all this snow.  and ice.  and misery.  One day, I skidded on the ice (how do ya drive on that stuff?) and crashed my car into a phone pole and then moved home to FL.  

I had no idea that it was a record bad winter everywhere - even down here - I just figured that those conditions were normal for Up North and that it's horrible up there (it is).

Back to FL:  so after reading the above posts, I checked our historical data (Tampa - unfortunately can't find it for St. Pete which is warmer).  Going back to 1890, the years '76-'77 and '77-'78 had the most number of days below 32F: 8 days for both winters.   Btw, here's the link http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tbw/html/tbw/clima...TPA32ORLESS.htm

Someone in our family kept a newspaper article about that winter - showing snow in Lakeland which I didn't want to believe.  But snow in Miami?  Wow.

[spockvr6]

(SunnyFl @ Jan. 19 2007,09:04)

QUOTE

Back to FL:  so after reading the above posts, I checked our historical data (Tampa - unfortunately can't find it for St. Pete which is warmer).  

Here you go Sunny----

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tbw/html/tbw/clima...SPG32ORLESS.htm

Theres a big difference between Tampa and St Pete (as is the usual case).  The number of days at/below 32F for those two winters (76'-77' and 77'-78') is 2 and 0 (St. Pete) versus 8 and 8 (Tampa).

[spockvr6]

And just for yucks, heres Sarasota/Bradenton.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tbw/html/tbw/clima...SRQ32orless.htm

[alex_7b]

Hey guys, any photos of the event?

[Jeff Searle]

I remember this day very well, and exactly what and where I was and doing. And I hope I don't ever see this again, at least while I'm growing my palms.

Jeff

[SubTropicRay]

I remember throwing a snowball at my sister before school that morning.  

Here's a good link.

Florida Snow