Record 10 Inches Of Snow Falls In FL, Power Outages Soar

FLORIDA — An historic winter storm that swept across the Gulf states dropped nearly 10 inches of snow in parts of the Florida Panhandle Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning, breaking state snowfall records.

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency ahead of the rare snowstorm, which left nearly 40,000 people without power Wednesday morning across northern Florida, according to PowerOutage.us.

Milton, just north of Pensacola, saw the highest snowfall with 9.8 inches recorded as of Wednesday around 9:15 a.m., the National Weather Service said.

That amount is more than double Florida’s previous snowfall record of 4 inches, which also fell in Milton, in 1954, according to Fox 13.

Nearby, 9.5 inches fell in Molino and 9 inches were recorded in Pace and Century.

Cities along the coast saw much lower amounts of snow with 1.5 inches in Panama City Beach and 1.3 inches at Eglin Air Force Base.

Check out the latest snowfall amounts from the National Weather Service here.

Other parts of Florida saw sleet and freezing rain, and areas as far east as Jacksonville even saw snow flurries, reports said.

"We haven't seen snowfall totals in the South like this since 1895," FOX 13 meteorologist Dave Osterberg said.

The storm disrupted life across northern Florida, closing schools and government offices. A stretch of Interstate 10 in the Panhandle was closed to traffic Tuesday night because of road conditions, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office posted to X, formerly Twitter.

With several nights of below-freezing temperatures in the forecast, it will take days for the snow to melt, and re-freezing to end overnight. The thaw and freeze cycles may last into the weekend across the Panhandle, AccuWeathersaid.

Flights were grounded at multiple airports Tuesday ahead of the snow and some, including the Jacksonville International Airport, plan to reopen Wednesday.

Tallahassee resident Lina Rojas said she’s never more than a dusting of snow in the state’s capital.

“This is like … I don’t even know what to call it,” she said of the snow. “You can see it!”

Dangerous below-freezing temperatures with even colder wind chills are expected to last over much of the week in the region.

Authorities say three people have died in the cold weather and heavy snow across the South, including two in Austin, Texas, and a hypothermia-related death in Georgia, according to CNN.

This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.