Snow, Sleet Fall in Tampa Bay Area

After an extended period of morning low temperatures in the 20s and 30s throughout much of the Tampa Bay area, down came sleet and snow in Tampa on the chilly morning of January 9. An Arctic cold front bringing temperatures in the 20s for Sunday and Monday mornings pulled through Friday and into Saturday. Behind the cold front, a rush of dropping temperatures and adequate moisture in the atmosphere combined to create the snow flurries and sleet that are so rare for the Tampa area.

My Observations of the Sleet in the Tampa Area

I was awake by 4:45 am Saturday, watching the WTVT online Doppler radar screen advance the pinks of sleet and the blues of snow down much of the Florida peninsula.

By 6 am, a wintry mix of freezing rain, sleet, and flurries had entered the suburbs surrounding Tampa. My weather thermometer was reading 35 degrees when ice pellets began falling all around my residence. While most the precipitation was a very chilly rain, there were sleet pellets and what unverifiably appeared to be a few slushy flakes falling onto the car. There wasn't enough sleet or flurry precipitation to accumulate in the immediate Tampa area, but the sleet was falling at a rapid enough pace that it stuck to surfaces and was visible before melting away after a few minutes.

There were two periods of sleet in my area. Once at about 6:30 am and the second period around 9:05 am. Temperatures had fallen to 34 degrees by the time the second bout of sleet had begun falling in the Tampa area.

By 9:30 am, the second bout of sleet had ended, and the dwindling remnants of cold rain had begun leaving the immediate Tampa area as it headed east to Lakeland and Orlando.

Temperatures never exceeded 38 degrees on my weather thermometer during Saturday, and they quickly dropped to a freezing 32 degrees by 7:15 pm.

Past Freezes, Snow, Sleet in Florida

It's true that snow is seen somewhere in Florida virtually every year. What sets this particular snow event apart from most of the recent occurrences of icy precipitation in Florida is the duration and scope of the snow and sleet coverage.

Snow flurries fell in small accumulations throughout the Panhandle and down into areas as far south as Ocala, Crystal River, and Dade City. Meanwhile, sleet and occasional snow flurries were seen in areas around North Tampa, Land-O-Lakes, Zephyrhills, and Lakeland.

The last significant occurrence of sleet and flurries for the Tampa area came in 1989. The last occurrence of measureable snowfall in Tampa was in 1977.

Resource

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WTVT Weather Doppler Radar