Rain, bitter cold and the possibility of snow is in the forecast for St. Johns County
Did you know that St. Augustine once held the record for greatest amount of snowfall to fall in the Sunshine State?
On Feb. 2, 1951, America’s oldest city lay buried in two inches of snow. The rare and unusual weather event provided residents and visiting snowbirds the opportunity to experience snowball fights and sledding in palm fronds and washtubs.
According to the St. Augustine Historical Society, as city officials built snowmen, Stuart Bridle, a transplant from Illinois who owned a real sled, shared the sled with those who gathered on Fort Hill, making him the most popular kid in town.
As tourists from North and Central Florida flocked in, the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune published stories about the snow in St. Augustine, which had melted by the next day. Three years later, Santa Rosa County received four inches of snow, bumping St. Augustine out of the record book.
According to the latest weather reports Friday, there is a chance, albeit slight, of the return of the rare weather event.
A winter storm is predicted to impact the Interstate 10 corridor in Texas and travel east to Florida early next week.
According to Ben Nelson, senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Monday’s low-pressure front over the Gulf of Mexico will travel across Florida’s peninsula and across the southeastern seaboard early Wednesday, bringing winter weather to the Interstate 95 corridor in Georgia and the Carolinas.
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“An Arctic cold front will push across our area on Sunday evening, with heavy rainfall and a risk of strong thunderstorms overnight Saturday through Sunday afternoon,” he told the St. Augustine Record in an email. “Slow moving, heavy downpours late Saturday and Sunday could drop 1-2 inches of rainfall, most of which could result in a marginal flood risk for urban areas such as downtown St. Augustine.”
Nelson said that on a more positive note, local temperatures will warm into the 60s and 70s by Saturday before Sunday’s arctic air plunges St. Augustine into the 30s by Monday morning’s sunrise. “Stiff” northwesterly winds (15-25 mph) will cause wind chills of 20 degrees in some areas by early Monday morning.
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Monday’s afternoon 40-degree temps will be accompanied by “breezy” wind chills keeping the feel-like temps in the 30s. Clouds will increase on Monday evening. Rain will spread through St. Augustine Tuesday afternoon and evening, “with highs struggling to climb into the 40s.”
“Frozen precipitation (snow, sleet, or freezing rain) is more likely to occur over southeast Georgia and along the Interstate 10 corridor in north Florida, but there are very low probabilities — less than 10%, or less than a 1-in-10 chance — for light snowfall in St. Johns County on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning,” Nelson said.
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Nelson said that there’s a 10% chance, for freezing rain and sleet on Tuesday night and Wednesday.
“Probabilities for accumulating snowfall of at least one-tenth of an inch increase to 20% (1-in-5 chance for locations all along the Interstate 10 corridor in north Florida), while probabilities for measurable (greater than 0.01 inch) sleet and freezing rain increase to nearly 50% along the I-10 corridor,” Nelson said.
Winter Storm Severity Index January 2025
Nelson underscored that while the significant weather probabilities are days away, travel may be impacted, and power outages may occur in areas north and west of St. Johns County on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
“There is still uncertainty as to where the freezing line sets up during this event, so we urge residents in St. Johns County to monitor forecasts through the weekend and early next week, and to prepare for another week of abnormally cold weather.”
The storm will shift offshore over the Atlantic by Wednesday afternoon.
This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: St. Augustine will see rain, bitter cold and a small chance of snow
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