Snow in Pensacola is a rare thing, but it has happened here before, bringing shenanigans
When it snowed in Pensacola in February, 1973, the Vann siblings went outside and, like kids up north, built a snowman. It was such a rare occasion for Pensacola that a picture of the four young siblings and their little snowman made the newspaper − in New Jersey.
“A (Pensacola News Journal) photographer showed up and took our picture,” said Curtis Vann from his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Tuesday morning as snow began to fall there. “Two days later our cousins in New Jersey contacted us and said, ‘Ya’ll are in the paper up here.’ I guess the AP (Associated Press) had a story up there and it was so strange that people in New Jersey even saw the picture.”
The picture showed siblings Curtis, Mickey, Jessie and Jimmy Vann with their snowman, which, from the picture, looks like a white teddy bear. The siblings think − it was 52 years ago − the eyes and nose were made from raisins and a sailor’s hat was placed upon its head. Why raisins?
“I remember that we put a hotdog for its nose,” Curtis Vann said. “But then our grandma’s dog ate it.”
Vann added, “I was 13, my sister was 11 and my brothers were 8 and 6. We were so elated. Snow didn’t happen in Pensacola. We were born and raised here and never seen it before, never experienced it before. We were living the dream. We were fired up about it.”
It wasn’t the first snow to hit Pensacola. Nor the most snow.
According to snowplownews.com, the greatest snowfall for Pensacola came on March 6, 1954, when 2.3 inches of snow fell on the city. The greatest yearly total for Pensacola snow came in 1977 when it snowed twice, leaving a combined 2.5 inches of snow in the area, according to snowplownews.com, which tracks snow totals in the United States.
One of the earliest recorded snow events in Pensacola came on Dec. 5, 1886, when 1.5 inches fell. Reports from the Pensacolian newspaper said that a gang of “b’hoys charged upon Capt. Farinas and his police force with snowballs and routed the entire posse.” (“B’hoys” was a term used in the 19th century to describe tough, rowdy young men.) The Pensacolian reporter noted that the whole scene was “amusing in the extreme.”
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Reports from the 1977 snow detail the city’s ordeal with weather residents just weren’t accustomed to, including downed power lines and more than 50 minor vehicle accidents attributed to snow and ice. A News Journal story stated that about 100 to 150 students from the University of West Florida who spent the day using cardboard boxes, and at times, other students’ bodies, to sled down a small hill near the UWF Commons.
We’ve heard of similar plans today from various people in Pensacola, from Facebook friends scheduling snowball fights downtown to disc golfers readying to play a few snowy rounds.
Send your snow pictures to [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Snow in Pensacola is rare, but not impossible.
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