A historic storm dumped more snow along the US coast into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, after paralyzing Houston and New Orleans for the past two days and burying parts of Florida with unprecedented snow accumulations in the state.
Snow, sleet and rain hit parts of northern Florida, southern Georgia and southeastern South Carolina as the storm moved through the region on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Florida may have already broken its all-time snowfall record in the western Panhandle city of Milton near Pensacola, according to Frank Pereira, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
Before this storm, Milton Mayor Heather Lindsay said she hadn’t seen a snowflake fall on the city since 2014.
“We’re taking it in stride, but everything is closed,” Lindsay said. The city doesn’t have snowplows and most residents don’t even have a snow shovel, he said.
“But the kids are using kayaks and inner tubes as sleds, enjoying the snow day,” he said.
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As the precipitation dissipated Wednesday, frigid air settled in and will remain at least through this weekend along the Gulf Coast and U.S. East Coast.
Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, where temperatures usually hover around 15 degrees Celsius in January, is expected to record a low of -15 degrees Celsius this Wednesday.
