Trucker Alexis Barnett was trying to make the trip Wednesday from Destin to Sarasota when Florida shut down I-10 and re-routed traffic onto Highway 90. That’s when the driving started getting treacherous. “Going up the hills and down the hills, it was nothing but black ice. Just a sheet of ice,” she said.
Record-breaking snow accumulation was reported across the Florida Panhandle and prompted the Florida Highway Patrol to shut down some major roadways by early Tuesday evening.
A rare frigid storm charged through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday, blanketing New Orleans and Houston with snow, closing highways, grounding nearly all flights and canceling school for millions of students more used to hurricane dismissals than snow days.
Parts of the Florida Panhandle were coated in a blanket of snow with temperatures at 25 degrees on Tuesday while Miami had temperatures in the 80s, seemingly two different worlds. From Pensacola down to Miami, there was a difference of 55 degrees, according to the National Weather Service Miami .
From Pensacola to Jacksonville, snowfall was reported ranging from inches-deep to a light dusting. A whopping 9.8 inches was recorded in Milton, Fla. a city about 23 miles northeast of Pensacola. Satellites from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) captured the snow left behind from the historic storm.
“While on scene of a crash on 331 N, a deputy witnessed a driver doing doughnuts in the middle of the roadway and driving at a high rate of speed,” the Walton County Sheriff’s Office reported in a Facebook post.
An unusual winter storm is spreading snow, sleet and freezing rain across the southern United States. It’s a once in a lifetime event for most here, but a familiar sight to Yoopers now living in the Florida Panhandle, which picked up around six inches of snow.
Florida residents from Pensacola to Jacksonville are bracing for what is expected to be a historic, once-in-a-lifetime winter storm with record-breaking, single-digit temperatures and an
JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville Jaguars are interviewing Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Liam Coen for their head coaching job after all, the latest turn in a covert operation that included owner Shad Khan moving on from general manager Trent Baalke and Coen reversing course with the Buccaneers.
The Jaguars and Liam Coen are still in talks about the team’s vacant head coaching job, and Jacksonville is getting an assist from its hall of famer in the process.
Turtles can lose their ability to swim in cold temperatures and may be seen “floating listlessly in the water or near shore,” according to the FWC. “Keep in mind that cold-stunned turtles can appear to be dead but often are still alive.”