Snow Possible In FL As Freezing Temps Move In: Latest Forecast

As a cold front drives freezing temperatures deep into Florida, a coastal storm developing over the weekend could also drop some snow on northern parts of the Sunshine State, meteorologists said.

The storm is forecast to spread snow from the southern United States to parts of the mid-Atlantic and New England from Saturday night into early Monday, AccuWeather said.

Snow or a slushy mix is expected to start late Saturday in the Florida Panhandle and southern Georgia before moving north Sunday, forecasters said.

The northern ends of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties have the best chance of seeing light snow or snow flurries overnight Saturday, data from the National Weather Service shows, the Pensacola News Journal reported. Closer to the Pensacola area has a slightly lower chance of seeing snow.

Early data suggests that snowfall could range from a dusting to 3 inches in parts of the Panhandle, WESH reported.

“There is a legitimate chance that there can be some snow on [early] Sunday,” Denis Phillips, chief meteorologist for Tampa Bay 28, said in a Wednesday night livestream forecast on social media, noting, “Everybody gets hyped about the possibility of some snowflakes in Florida; we do.”

While snow is possible in the Panhandle, it could snow as far south as Tallahassee, Phillips added.

This snow forecast comes nearly a year after an historic winter storm dropped nearly 10 inches of snow in parts of the Panhandle, breaking state snowfall records.

Meanwhile, a powerful cold front ahead of the weekend storm will cause Florida temperatures to plunge as much as 20 to 25 degrees below historical average, AccuWeather said.

Thursday night lows into Friday morning could fall into the 20s in Jacksonville and Tallahassee, and into the 30s across Central Florida, including Orlando and Lakeland, forecasters said. Parts of interior central Florida are likely to experience a freeze overnight.

“Millions of people in northern and central Florida are expected to wake up to freezing temperatures on Friday morning. The cold air could impact some sensitive vegetation and agriculture,” Brandon Buckingham, AccuWeather meteorologist, said.

The low temperatures come with a risk of falling, cold-stunned iguanas in some parts of Florida, he warned.

“Green iguanas are sensitive to the cold and can become stunned when temperatures fall into the 40s and 30s,” he said about the invasive species. “When that happens, they may lose their grip and fall from the trees. It’s a unique cold-weather hazard in Florida.”