All week on the models we have been watching the trough drop all the way to South Florida and sure enough, it has delivered this weekend with many seeing their coldest weather of the winter. Atlanta’s high of 39 on Saturday was coldest since last winter and this morning, temperatures dipped to freezing or slightly below, all the way to the Gulf Coast.

There was also a chance at seeing flurries over parts of Florida and this in fact happened around Tampa last night thanks to very cold air blowing across the relative warmth of the Gulf. It’s because of the very cold air blowing across the water, that snow flakes can get driven onshore. 2-metre temperatures at the time were in the mid-40s around Tampa but despite well above freezing surface temps, the cold air suspended perhaps just 1-200ft above the ground, can get transfered to the the ground within showers.

Below is a radar image from meteorologist Eric Burris as the snow showers blowing over the Gulf and clipping parts of the coast.

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The chart up top shows how cold of a day it is across the East with readings 10-20 below normal from Houston to Charlotte, all the way down to Miami. Atlanta will only just scrape 40 and even down across North Florida, it may struggle to make 50 while Orlando is likely to remains in the 50s today.

Like yesterday, snow showers are being reported across the Atlanta area.

Here are current temps as of 2.15pm ET.

If you live in the Southeast, you don’t need me to tell you it’s cold out there. Take a look at this 00z 500mb chart off the GFS and you can see the depth of the trough and it feeding frigid Canadian air all the way into the Gulf and across South Florida. Check out the powerful winds blowing over the Gulf!

Below are the current 850mb temps off the GFS. Remember this is your 5,000ft temps.

Notice the freezing line makes it all the way to Lake Okeechobee while the -5 to -10C line is out over the Gulf and across North Florida! Just look at the -10 to -15C line, it’s as far south as central Alabama, Georgia.

How about the 0z ECMWF 850mb temps?

Even colder!

Incredibly it has the -10 to -15C line all the way to the Alabama-Florida border!

Your asking, while it’s cold.. how come it’s not colder? The trouble is time of year. The sun angle higher than a month ago and therefore stronger and the further south you go, the stronger then sun will be. Therefore, this air mass is fighting strong surface warming. Had this very pattern with depth of trough happened a month ago, then it most certainly would have been even colder today across the Southeast.

Here are projected 2-metre temps forecasted by the GFS for Monday morning.

A big snowstorm takes aim at the N Plains, Midwest and eventually Mid-Atlantic over the next 72 hours, starting in the N Plains tonight. Will have a new post providing detailed analysis later this evening, stay tuned!

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