Southern Snowstorm

[William Monfredo]

Base reflectivity at 8:20 a.m. shows a very low-latitude snowstorm. In fact, Lake Charles, Louisiana NWS issued a Blizzard warning in the pre-dawn hours for winds of 35 mph, 1/2-to 1/4 mile visibilities, and up to ~ a half-foot of snow in some locations. A Gulf low can get the job done, and one doesn't see this setup that often.

 

[Bob Schafer]

I am at 29576 Perdido Beach Blvd, Orange Beach AL. I just took this pic. It just started snowing about an hour ago and the forecast says we can expect about 6" by tomorrow morning! I'll probably post another photo tomorrow.

 

[William Monfredo]

A foot of snow in the Garden District of New Orleans by 6 p.m. (photo Andy Stein)
R U kidding me?! No one alive has seen a bigger snowstorm in this town. Impressive.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I traveled to Pensacola to observe this event. It was pretty wild seeing scenes that had never yet occurred there in history and very interesting observing for the first time a driving public that clearly had zero experience ever dealing with that before, even more so than other parts of the South like Texas and Alabama that see winter precip once every 3 years or so. I captured some great footage on a hill in town, staying there all day. When there is no road treatment or plowing, significant snow like this gets packed down with a melt/refreeze cycle by traffic into very smooth ice. The road lanes in Pensacola had a very slick center portion with more passable unpacked snow on the sides and in the middle. Everyone was getting stuck in place on the icy parts and unable to move. Half of my time was spent showing drivers how to move over onto the unpacked snow to be able to get moving.

Unfortunately my video camera malfunctioned and corrupted the SD card containing the best footage from the day - the rarest, most unusual winter weather footage I've ever captured. I sent the card to the best flash media recovery lab in the country and awaiting to see if it is salvageable.

 

[Bob Schafer]

This isn't much of a photo, but here's a small snowman on the beach "day after". This is about 100 feet from the FL/AL state line.

 

[William Monfredo]

Half of my time was spent showing drivers how to move over onto the unpacked snow to be able to get moving. Unfortunately my video camera malfunctioned and corrupted the SD card...I sent the card to the best flash media recovery lab in the country and awaiting to see if it is salvageable.

That was good of you to help those folks get driving forward again. I'm curious to find out what happens to your card with that rare failure.
I've enjoyed showing your icy-road, smash-up videos to others. (I sold the rear-wheel drive Mustang in 2023. A180-spin in winter was enough.)

 

[Dan Robinson]

Jeremy at Recover My Flash Drive was said to be the best in the country for salvaging fried SD cards, and he lived up to that reputation.
All of my video from last week was recovered and delivered to me today. I posted the edit on my channel:

 

[Bob Schafer]

Jeremy at Recover My Flash Drive was said to be the best in the country for salvaging fried SD cards, and he lived up to that reputation.
All of my video from last week was recovered and delivered to me today. I posted the edit on my channel:

I am amazed that with all that cringeworthy action I didn't see one accident. The one guy lying on the ice next to his car was trying to win a Darwin Award. No brains at all.

 

[Dan Robinson]

An EAS alert was sent out for the road conditions in the Mobile, Alabama region on the morning of the 21st, sounding tones on cell phones. I'd never seen this done before. I didn't think to get a screen capture of this at the time, but someone on Facebook did:

Dave Moulton

It’s official, mobile Alabama is closed

www.facebook.com

 

[Dan Robinson]

In addition to the video card debacle, I misplaced my DSLR's memory card during this trip as well. I found it today! Here are some of those.

Obligatory palm trees in snow shot, this in downtown Mobile, Alabama:

Crossing the Florida state line:

A Florida icy bridge near Crestview:

I also finished a chase log page for this event:

Icy roads in Florida: The historic winter storm of January 2025