JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – 8:30 a.m. Sunday UPDATE: The snow may have ended but the cold remains. In fact, Sunday morning was the coldest morning of the season so far with the temperature in Jacksonville dropping to 26 degrees.
It's going to be a cold morning followed by a chilly afternoon with high temperatures struggling to get out of the 40s. Highs should range from 52 to 54 degrees, again, all under sunny skies.
Another freeze is expected Sunday night, albeit not as cold as Saturday night, so don't uncover those sensitive plants just yet. Clear skies look to be in our future through Tuesday!
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Just when you thought winter was going to be a bust, we wake up Saturday morning to snow flurries flying around Jacksonville. While they're isolated, light and wimpy, it's snow nonetheless.
More importantly, a freeze warning has been issued for the entire area, including the beaches, beginning late Saturday night into the morning hours of Sunday. Temperatures are expected to bottom out in the mid to upper 20s across a large portion of the area with temperatures at or just below freezing at the beaches.
Plants, pets, and people will certainly need protecting tonight as the areas spends up to 8 hours below freezing. While the temperatures will drop into the 20s, the duration of the freeze will not be long enough to cause problems for pipes nor with the temperatures be low enough. You really need temperatures below 25 degrees for pipes to become an issue.
Don't be too quick to put those plants back outside or to uncover them. Another freeze is expected Sunday night.
Snowmageddon 2016 is now making its presence felt from the northeast all the way into Florida. We've had multiple reports of snow falling from Avondale, Cecil Commerce, Fort White, Middleburg, Lake City, Valdosta and the Westside.
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In order for it to snow you need two ingredients: moisture and cold. This morning, both have come together at just the right time to produce snowfall across our area. Here is a look at a cross section of our atmosphere:
What we're looking at is what we call a rawindsonde sounding. It's a cross section of the atmosphere with the surface being at the base and the upper atmosphere at the top.
The red line is temperature with height and the green line is dew point (amount of moisture in the atmosphere). When the two get close together, or better yet touch, that's where clouds and rain/snow are being produced.
Check out the sounding now for Jacksonville! The red and green lines touch in to the left of the yellow line (the freezing line). That means snow was being created just above our heads. While our surface temperatures are above freezing, the air just above your head is below freezing. The air at the surface (36-38 degrees) is cold enough to keep the flakes from melting. Voila! Snow.
Expect a slight chance of snow to remain in the forecast through the noon hour with cloudy, cold conditions transitioning to cold and mostly sunny late this afternoon. Highs should only reach the low 40s but with howling winds, expect the feels like temperatures to stay in the low to mid 30s all day long.
The winds are expected to calm Saturday night and in combination with clear skies, we should have great radiational cooling taking place which will allow our temperatures to tumble into the mid to upper 20s with another freeze likely Monday night.
Only in Florida can it be snowing one day and be in the low 70s three days later.