A winter storm sweeping through the U.S. South on Tuesday was dumping snow at levels millions of residents haven’t seen before.
Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico was combining with a low-pressure system and chilly air to drop significant amounts of snow in some spots. That included 10.5 inches near Lafayette, Louisiana by Tuesday afternoon — within striking distance of the state record of 13 inches set in 1960.
The National Weather Service said 7 to 8 inches of snow had been reported in areas between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. New Orleans’ old record was 2.7 inches set in 1963. In Texas, the Houston-Galveston area had 2 to 4 inches before midday.
The National Weather Service’s Lake Charles, Louisiana, office issued its first-ever blizzard warning Tuesday. The NWS’ Mobile office reposted video on X of two people having a snowball fight in Orange Beach, Alabama, just steps from the Gulf of Mexico.
It appeared Florida had broken its state snowfall record of 4 inches, set in Milton on March 6, 1954. The National Weather Service’s Mobile office said Pensacola had gotten 5 inches.
That office also said Mobile’s airport had gotten 6.2 inches, surpassing the old record of 5 inches set Jan. 24, 1881.
Even the double-digit snowfall near Lafayette was well short of the Valentine’s Day snowstorm that struck parts of the Gulf Coast in 1895. That storm dumped 19 inches on Houston and 15.4 on Galveston.
