Parts of the Gulf Coast measured a foot of snow on Tuesday. For many cities the totals obliterate long-standing snowfall records. Milton, Florida recorded 9 inches of snow which more than doubles the all-time statewide Florida record of 4 inches!

Today, January 21, 2025, a winter storm barreled through the southern United States, depositing snow in cities like Houston and New Orleans. According to the Associated Press, snow plows were at the ready in a particularly surprising locale—the Florida panhandle.

Forecasting winter weather in the southern region can be tricky at times.  However, the recent rare winter storm in the Deep South brought a winter wonderland to areas where it is typically unheard of to get snow.

Snow covered the white-sand beaches of normally sunny vacation spots, including Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Pensacola Beach, Florida. The heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain hitting parts of the Deep South came as a blast of Arctic air plunged much of the Midwest and the eastern U.S. into a deep freeze.

Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain are spreading east across parts of the Florida panhandle and eastern Carolinas, closing roads and schools and grounding flights.

Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and even Florida are seeing snowfall as a powerful blast of Arctic air mixed with Gulf moisture works its way across the Southeast.