As historic snowfall – in some places more than double-digit totals – fell Tuesday along the Gulf Coast and in the Deep South and Southeast, meteorologists ran out of adjectives to describe what they were seeing.
“Just like hundreds of other meteorologists today, I am speechless,” one wrote, sharing a video clip of whiteout conditions on Pensacola Bay Bridge in Florida. The city of Milton, Florida, reported 8.8 inches – probably the state’s biggest daily snowfall on record.
In Louisiana, deep mounds of snow met the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In New Orleans, locals skied down Bourbon Street as the airport recorded 8 inches, smashing the daily record of 2.7 inches.
By the end of Tuesday, New Orleans had observed more snow in this single event than New York City and Anchorage did in all of December and January – and according to the data, the area just southwest of the city may have been Tuesday’s snowiest place, with an estimated total of just over a foot.
In Alabama, there was a snowball fight on the beach. The Gulf Coast had its first blizzard warning on record.
Big snow totals and records
Here’s a list of the biggest snow totals by state as of early Wednesday, as well as a nonexhaustive list of snowfall records that were set.
Top state snowfall totals
– Texas: La Porte, Pine Forest and Vidor, 6 inches
– Louisiana: Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish, 11.5 inches
– Mississippi: Long Beach and Ocean Springs, 9 inches
– Alabama: Babbie, 11 inches
– Florida: Milton, 9.8 inches
– Georgia: Cordele, 9 inches
– South Carolina: Conway and Cross, 6 inches
– North Carolina: Kill Devil Hills, 9 inches
– Virginia: Norview, 4.1 inches
Snowfall records set
– Louisiana: New Orleans (airport), 8 inches; Lafayette, 9 inches
– Alabama: Mobile, 7.5 inches
– Florida: Milton, 9.8 inches (likely new state record); Pensacola, 7.6 inches
– Georgia: Camilla, 8 inches
As more data comes in and is verified in the days ahead, more snowfall records may be confirmed.
In Acadiana, Louisiana, the combination of a fresh snow pack, light winds and clear skies were conducive to exceptionally cold temperatures. The temperature dropped to 3 degrees on Wednesday morning, the lowest temperature on record since records began there in 1893. The location is just 30 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico.
Why was it so snowy?
Such an unusual storm requires a very particular mix of meteorological ingredients.
The storm came together as the most unusually cold air on the planet converged on the United States on Tuesday, driven a by a displaced lobe of the polar vortex.
But it takes more than just cold air to form a storm.
From last weekend into the early part of this week, an upper atmospheric disturbance dropped southward from Canada’s Yukon territory to Texas, causing air to rise, cool and condense into precipitation along the Gulf Coast.
Along the Gulf Coast, history has shown that it is unusual to get an outbreak of extremely cold temperatures to align with a pattern that is conducive to precipitation.
But these two key factors did align on Tuesday.
Despite the rare and unusual nature of the event, the outbreak of cold air and snow doesn’t negate Earth’s long-term warming trend nor its impacts. Last year was the warmest year on record. This contributed to record warm seas, including in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as record levels of atmospheric moisture.
The Gulf of Mexico was a critical fuel source for the storm and was still running warmer than average in January. It probably contributed to the record-breaking snowfall totals.
Here’s what’s next
Several more nights of frigid conditions are expected in the areas hardest hit by the storm as an Arctic air mass settles in. Combined with a fresh snowpack, light winds and clear skies, low temperatures will commonly dip into the teens and 20s from Thursday through Saturday. Extreme cold warnings and cold weather advisories remain in place.
This will lead to a cycle of melting and refreezing, allowing icy conditions to linger for days.
Thereafter, temperatures are forecast to gradually warm, with high temperatures in the 60s returning to New Orleans next week, along with a chance for showers.
After a stormy January so far, a somewhat quieter weather pattern is forecast to build across the country to end the month as temperatures return to seasonable levels.