A White Christmas in Northeast Florida?

Northeast Florida experienced their first White Christmas ever on this date in 1989. A major cold wave that affected much of the eastern half of the United States brought record low temperatures to all 67 counties of the Sunshine State. The mercury plunged to 27F in Orlando. Fort Lauderdale fell to 29F, Miami to 30F and Key West fell to 46F. Two to three inches of snow fell in the Florida Panhandle. Mobile also recorded its first White Christmas. Tallahassee recorded a trace of snow, their first ever Christmas Day snowflakes. Many traffic accidents on icy roads resulting in fatalities. Airports and interstates were closed. Snow and sleet fell as far south as Sarasota and Melbourne. Citrus and vegetable crops were hard hit, along with the tropical fish industry.

The record cold affected much of the Southeast. The mercury plunged to zero at Wilmington, North Carolina, setting an all-time record for the station. Wilmington was also blanketed by fifteen inches of snow, the most ever observed there. Major damage was caused to citrus crops across Florida and Texas. Thousands of broken water mains were reported from frozen pipes from Jackson, Mississippi to Charleston, SC. Twenty people died in accidents and weather related incidents over the Christmas weekend. A total of 93 fatalities were recorded across the East during the two week cold wave.

Partially for the fun of it, let's look at some reports from far and wide: Updated Friday Afternoon:.

* How about these bitter cold temperatures this morning:
45 below zero in Embarrass, Minnesota
41 below at Babbit, Minnesota
35 below at International Falls and Cook
53 below at Bettles, Alaska where there is 30 inches of snow
30 below in Deadhorse, Alaska where the wind chill was near -60!

* Those extremely cold temperatures from Minnesota come from the NE part of that state--called the Arrowhead of Minnesota. Remember the Diehard Battery TV commercial filmed at International Falls for obvious reasons?

* One of John Oldshue's favorite spots, Kodiak, Alaska was reporting 17 degrees with north winds averaging 46 MPH and gusts to 68 MPH at 10 'oclock this morning, Birmingham time. Not a good day to hang out the wash.

* Over on the Pacific side of Alaska, Valdez now has 47 inches of snow on the ground. I believe they got about two feet of new snow since yesterday.

* That historic snowstorm in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana dumped 32 inches of snow in Washington County, Indiana and 30 inches in Jefferson County. Numerous reports of 5-foot drifts.

* At 8 this morning Eglin Air Force Base in NW Florida was reporting 30 with light freezing rain!

* Evansville, Indiana, on the Ohio River had a record 19 inches of snow from this historic storm. Paducah, Kentucky 14 inches.

* About 40 Indiana Counties declared a Snow Emergency during the storm.

* At noon today, Jake Skellett, WBRZ-TV, Baton Rouge, sent us an email advising that a mix of light snow flurries and sleet was falling on Baton Rouge with the noon temperature still only 31!

* Within the last few days, the temperature has been as low as 66 below zero at Ojmjakon, Siberia with the barometric pressure as high as 1061 millibars! That's 31.33 inches! Let's hope that bitter cold arctic air does not decide to head across the North Pole and head our way. By the way, that place in Eastern Siberia has the reputation of being the world's coldest continuously inhabited location.

Life goes on--cold or hot, snow, sleet or rain.