Icy Roads

[gjoseph]

Just out of curiosity in North Florida, and Central Florida, do the roads usually Ice in the winter? I'm from Tampa, but I've never seen it ice in the winter just only frost.

[bighardrivesrule]

Just out of curiosity in North Florida, and Central Florida, do the roads usually Ice in the winter? I'm from Tampa, but I've never seen it ice in the winter just only frost.

Not usually unless it happens to snow a bit and then the temputure drops so that the snow melts then freezes to the road. I have only seen this happen once in 1989 when we got a few inches a snow in the Tallahassee area. Some of the rural roads with snow did just what I mentioned. Just accross the border from Tally in Georgia the bridges have signs on them saying they may ice in winter. This whole scenerio is very rare.

[JRS1]

Not usually unless it happens to snow a bit and then the temputure drops so that the snow melts then freezes to the road. I have only seen this happen once in 1989 when we got a few inches a snow in the Tallahassee area. Some of the rural roads with snow did just what I mentioned. Just accross the border from Tally in Georgia the bridges have signs on them saying they may ice in winter. This whole scenerio is very rare.

yep, there was serious frost;snow and ice even in Gainesville in '89.

[gjoseph]

Thanks u guys for letting me know because a couple of weeks ago I was in Folkston, Georgia about 30 minutes north of Jacksonville, and I saw a sign that said bridge may ice in winter and I was wondering why any of the bridges in north florida have that on their bridges.

[poonther]

Thanks u guys for letting me know because a couple of weeks ago I was in Folkston, Georgia about 30 minutes north of Jacksonville, and I saw a sign that said bridge may ice in winter and I was wondering why any of the bridges in north Florida have that on their bridges.

Yeah I see those "Icy Bridge" signs all the time when I'm in South Ga which is just up the road from Tally. I believe since North GA (ATL and northward) gets icy conditions at least once a year, the State just puts those signs up on ALL bridges throughout the State. But to my knowledge (and I know N FL and the Panhandle pretty well) those signs don't exist in the State of FL.

9 times out of 10, if winter type precipitation is going to occur, it's going to occur in the INLAND sections of FL Ocala northward. Tally gets ice or snow flakes about once every 5 to 10 years, but this usually never sticks. When it does stick, usually it's just on the trees and buildings etc b/c the ground and asphalt is just too warm.

I just looked it up on NOAA and the all time Tally record snowfall was in Feb. 1958 when we got 2.8" The last snow we had that stuck to the ground was in 1989, the same event that JRS1 referenced in G'ville. At that time I was living in Boca Raton and FTL got below freezing as did WPB and Miami. South FL even saw snowflakes in 1977.

So while winter precip. does occur in FL, it's very rare and when it does it's a phenomenon.

[jandar]

I think everyone in North Florida that was here during that time remembers Christmas of 1989.

It was nice!

a part of Jacksonville in the snow in 1989:

[gjoseph]

Hey ya'll here in Florida, it's goin' 2 b really COLD tonight

From AccuWeather.com

Tallahassee- Low: 27 Real Feel: 13 degrees

Tampa- Low: 43 Real Feel: 34 degrees

Jacksonville- Low: 30 Real Feel: 17 degrees

Orlando- Low: 44 Real Feel: 31 degrees

Pensacola- Low: 26 Real Feel: 11 degrees

Miami- Low: 61 Real Feel: 55 degrees

I'm really excited could this mean we could see some flurries or sumthin' I've lived in Florida all of my life and have never seen it snow here the only places I've seen snow has been in Georgia (where I used 2 live), New York, and Colorado.

[poonther]

I hate to be the bad guy and burst your bubble especially since I'd love to see snow too, but this series of arctic fronts are dry fronts, thus no precip. much before the front and especially none after it passes in the areas in FL what will get cold enough for snow.

Usually in FL to get snow or flurries you need an arctic front to pass through exactly at the time there is a developing Low Pressure in the Gulf. That combination w/the right timing doesn't happen often and is one of the reasons it's so rare for us to even get flurries.

But hey keep wishin' for snow, I'm w/you on that wish too.

[destijl]

Hey ya'll here in Florida, it's goin' 2 b really COLD tonight

From AccuWeather.com

Tallahassee- Low: 27 Real Feel: 13 degrees

Tampa- Low: 43 Real Feel: 34 degrees

Jacksonville- Low: 30 Real Feel: 17 degrees

Orlando- Low: 44 Real Feel: 31 degrees

Pensacola- Low: 26 Real Feel: 11 degrees

Miami- Low: 61 Real Feel: 55 degrees

I'm really excited could this mean we could see some flurries or sumthin' I've lived in Florida all of my life and have never seen it snow here the only places I've seen snow has been in Georgia (where I used 2 live), New York, and Colorado.

[davidals]

Not that this was in any of our lifetimes, but there's the Feb 11-14 blizzard and cold snap of 1899, which severely affected the southeast and the entire Atlantic coast:

All-time record low temperatures in Florida (-2 at Tallahassee), Georgia (-12), Kentucky (-33), Louisiana (-16), South Carolina (-11), Tennessee (-30), West Virginia (-35), and Washington DC (-15). Records set in North Carolina and Virginia weren't broken until 1986 and 1985, respectively.

Snow fell as far south as Fort Myers, FL, with 2" accumulations (and extremely high winds) on the panhandle and northern peninsula; the temperature in Miami fell to 29 degrees. Snow also fell in New Orleans, where temperatures remained below freezing long enough for the Mississippi River to freeze.

The storm moved directly south (dragging extreme cold along with it), from central Canada to the Western Gulf, before it then began moving northeastward - thus the cold air arrived in the Southeast a day before it arrived in the Northeast - on the first day of the storm, the temperature fell to 9 degrees in Atlanta, at a time when temperatures in Buffalo were still in the 40s.

[gjoseph]

I'm sorry destijl I was born in FLA moved 2 Macon, Georgia when I was a toddler and moved back when I was 3 so I still consider myself born and raised in FLA lol.

[reednavy05]

Not that this was in any of our lifetimes, but there's the Feb 11-14 blizzard and cold snap of 1899, which severely affected the southeast and the entire Atlantic coast:

All-time record low temperatures in Florida (-2 at Tallahassee), Georgia (-12), Kentucky (-33), Louisiana (-16), South Carolina (-11), Tennessee (-30), West Virginia (-35), and Washington DC (-15). Records set in North Carolina and Virginia weren't broken until 1986 and 1985, respectively.

Snow fell as far south as Fort Myers, FL, with 2" accumulations (and extremely high winds) on the panhandle and northern peninsula; the temperature in Miami fell to 29 degrees. Snow also fell in New Orleans, where temperatures remained below freezing long enough for the Mississippi River to freeze.

The storm moved directly south (dragging extreme cold along with it), from central Canada to the Western Gulf, before it then began moving northeastward - thus the cold air arrived in the Southeast a day before it arrived in the Northeast - on the first day of the storm, the temperature fell to 9 degrees in Atlanta, at a time when temperatures in Buffalo were still in the 40s.

[davidals]

HOLY SHAT I work in weather at NAS JAX, and the old records from 1989 were incredible, but that is a hot mess