Historic Gulf Coast winter storm was the region’s worst in 130 years

A major winter storm blanketed the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday, Jan. 21, in the region’s largest winter storm since February 1895. 

Roads, schools, and businesses were closed throughout the region as communities simply lacked the plows and road treatment equipment to deal with the onslaught of wintry weather. 

The system brought accumulating snow from eastern Texas through northwestern Florida, leaving behind a thicker blanket of snow than some towns have ever recorded.

The Benchmark: Blizzard of 1895

A weather map showing snow along the northern Gulf Coast the morning of Feb. 15, 1895. (NOAA)

The catalyst for the Jan. 2025 outburst of cold and snow ultimately started with a series of ridges of high pressure building over Alaska. 

Calling this an unusual pattern is an understatement. The ridge sent daytime highs soaring into the 40s across Alaska on Jan. 12. The high in Fairbanks that day climbed to 47°F, a day when their normal high temperature is supposed to be around -1°F. Temperatures remained well above normal for the following week as several more ridges built over the region.

These Alaskan ridges destabilized the polar vortex, an ever-present circulation of winds high above the Arctic. Frigid air remains confined to the highest latitudes when the polar vortex is stable. If it weakens and becomes unstable—like we saw last week—a lobe of the polar vortex can swoop southward and drag bitterly cold air along with it. 

About a week after the first big ridge peaked in intensity across Alaska, cold air began flooding south across Canada and into the United States. By Monday, Jan. 20, subfreezing temperatures made it as far as the Gulf of Mexico, setting the stage for the Gulf Coast’s major winter storm. 

The upper-level trough allowing that cold air to sink southward triggered the development of a low-pressure system over Texas late in the day on Monday. This rapidly developing system had free access to both frigid air to the north and Gulf moisture to the south. 

Snow and sleet began falling across eastern Texas late on Monday, spreading across the northern Gulf Coast through the overnight hours into Tuesday, Jan. 21. 

Heavy snow and gusty winds pushed into Louisiana early on Tuesday, prompting forecasters to issue the state’s first-ever blizzard warnings for the southwestern corner of the state around Lake Charles. Snow fell on New Orleans most of the day Tuesday, bringing the city its first measurable snow in more than 15 years. 

The system pushed heavy snow into southern Mississippi and southwestern Alabama through the day Thursday. Frigid temperatures allowed the snow to stick immediately and pile up in a hurry. Videos on social media showed people having snowball fights on the beach in Orange Beach, Alabama. The National Weather Service office in Mobile reported 16-inch drifts by Tuesday evening.

Temperatures were cold enough in northwestern Florida for an exceptionally rare snowfall to blanket the panhandle of the Sunshine State. Steady snow was reported in Pensacola, Destin, and Panama City Beach through Tuesday afternoon.

Warmer temperatures holding on through the mid-levels of the atmosphere allowed a messy mix of wintry precipitation to fall across the northern Florida Peninsula as the storm arrived on Tuesday evening. Accumulating sleet and freezing rain was reported in Jacksonville, with a winter weather advisory in effect as far south as Ocala.

We saw historic snowfall totals across the northern Gulf Coast from this storm.

Mobile, Alabama, saw its largest snowstorm in recorded history. The city picked up more than half a foot of snow from the storm, topping out with 7.5 inches by Tuesday night. This eclipses the official record of 3.6 inches measured at the airport in Feb. 1973, and it beats the historic snowstorm of Feb. 1895 which dropped about 6 inches of snow in the city.

The entire state of Florida’s all-time snowfall record likely fell during this storm. Forecasters received a report of 9.5 inches of snow in Molino, Florida, in the northwest corner of the state north of Pensacola. A retired NWS employee in Milton, Florida, reported 8.8 inches of snow—which would break the statewide snowfall record in its own right. 

Pensacola also saw its largest snowfall on record. The city’s biggest storm in recent history dropped 2.3 inches of snow back on Mar. 6, 1954. Pensacola saw 6-8+ inches this time around—eclipsing that previous record.

A swath of 2-5 inches of snow fell across the rest of the Florida Panhandle east toward Tallahassee, an exceptionally rare event that may not happen again for decades.

Clear skies and a thick snowpack allowed for some of the coldest temperatures ever recorded in the region by Wednesday, Jan. 22.

The preliminary low temperature in Lafayette, Louisiana, dipped all the way down to 4°F on Wednesday morning, which would be the coldest temperature ever recorded there. The previous all-time cold record was a 7°F reading back on Feb. 13, 1899. 

Mobile dropped to 7°F on Wednesday morning, only the 8th morning with a single-digit low temperature since records began at KMOB airport back in 1948. The all-time coldest temperature at the Mobile Regional Airport remains a 3°F reading on Jan. 21, 1985. (The city’s all-time low was -1°F recorded during that cold outbreak in Feb. 1899.)

[Top image taken by the Walton County Sheriff’s Department]

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