White Butts and Florida Snow Record

UPDATE:WeatherMatrix Member Thomas Giella from Lakeland, Florida has published (in his weather blog) another NWS statement talking about snowfall in at least three Florida counties.

SOUTHERN SNOW SUMMARY:

Additional information has come in today regarding yesterday's record snowfall in the South. I thought this was extreme enough to deserve a new headline. Here's what happened.

- Record early snow was sighted in Florida
- Record early snow fell at Charleston SC and Savannah, GA
- Thundersnow was recorded for the first time ever at Charleston, SC
- "Unusually early snow" fell at at least 9 official stations in NC, SC, GA
- Snow accumulated on the ground up to 2 inches

In addition to the NWS & AccuWeather statements here, there are many news stories on the event (NC, SC | GA | FL). For example, this article in the T&D in South Carolina mentions that, sadly, "Emergency workers rushed to the aid of one of their own when an ambulance overturned on U.S. Highway 301 Tuesday afternoon. The ambulance was not transporting a patient at the time of the accident and the passengers were not seriously injured."

Our meteorologists have noted this morning in our our Weather Headlines (PREMIUM | PRO that snow was even observed in Florida (!):

An internal memo here further noted: Although there were no official ASOS (automated) sites that have reported snow, there was a statement issued by the NWS (permalink) in Melbourne last night stating snow was sighted just north of Orlando in some spots mixed with rain. This would make this the earliest snow ever observed in the state of Florida on record. There is only one known instance of snow ever on record here in November. On November 27-28, 1912, traces of snow were reported in Blounstown, Tallahassee, Marianna and Mt. Pleasant measured 0.5".

That area of Florida hasn't seen snow AT ALL since 2003 (USAToday). The NWS in Columbia SC also issued this statement (future permalink) overnight: