Where To Watch For Rounds Of Snow And Ice
Sign up for the Morning Brief email newsletter to get weekday updates from Weather Now 24 and our meteorologists.
Winter Storm Enzo has brought rare,record-breaking snow to parts of the Gulf Coast,snarling travel and resulting in historic snowfall totals from New Orleans to Florida.
(MORE:Why We Name Winter Storms And The 2024-25 List)
Estimated Snowfall
Reported snowfall totals by state:
- Alabama:11 inches in Babbie (southeast Alabama)
- Florida: 9.8 inches in Milton (north of Pensacola)*
- Georgia: 7 inches in Blakely and Leesburg (southwest Georgia)
- Louisiana: 11.5 inches in Chalmette (near New Orleans)
- Mississippi: 9 inches in Ocean Springs
- North Carolina:2 inches in Hampstead
- South Carolina: 3 inches near Conway
- Texas: 6 inches near Pine Island (near Beaumont)
* a potential state record and likely to change
Storm Recap
Enzo's Deadly Beginning,Unprecedented Warning
Winter Storm Enzo was not your typical winter storm,but its rain and snow were caused by a classic setup. Enzo never truly had a robust low pressure system,but instead was a large overlap between the coldest air of the season,abundant moisture and the tail end of a deep upper-level trough.
That trough began to dip its toes in the Gulf on January 20 and a burst of snow,sleet and freezing rain blossomed across Texas and Louisiana late in the day. A mixture of sleet and freezing rain fell from Austin to San Antonio and as far south as the Rio Grande Valley. Icy roads contributed to an icy collision that led to the death of five people and seven injuries in Zavala County,Texas,well to the southwest of San Antonio. Interstate 10 from San Antonio to Houston became snow and sleet-covered. Numerous accidents were reported well after sunrise as snow moved eastward.
Up to a quarter inch of ice accreted earlier Tuesday in south Texas,where some power outages are being reported.
Up to 4.2 inches of snow had fallen in the Houston metro area while flurries fell in Galveston. Snow even fell as far south as Brownsville,Texas,early Tuesday. Gusts to 44 mph were also recorded there.
In Houston,both of the city’s major airports and its schools were closed. The two airports saw more than 1700 cancellations over multiple days.
(Winter Storm As It Happened:January 21)
By the early morning hours of January 21,an unprecedented blizzard warning was issued for southwest Louisiana and extreme southeast Texas. It was the first in Louisiana’s history. New Orleans was preparing to hunker down for its historic snow. Multiple interstates through Louisiana were closed as the snow arrived while closures in southeast Texas continued. Even the Space Center in Houston closed.
Down on the coast,snow piled up right up to the water in the Gulf. Southern Louisiana picked up some 8-10 inches of snow in a once-in-a-generation event.
Thundersnow was reported near Lafayette. Airboats commonly used for traversing the bayous that Louisiana is known for were instead used for doing donuts in the snow.
New Orleans History
By mid-morning,near-blizzard conditions were being reported on New Orleans’ lakefront as snowfall rates climbed and gusts topped 35 mph at times. The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was closed due to poor visibility.
New Orleans picked up 8 inches,making it the heaviest snowfall there in modern day records (since 1948) and the city's biggest total in over 100 years.
By nightfall,skiers were skiing and snowfall fights had been had on Bourbon Street and ice hockey had been played on Canal Street. It wasn't just partygoers wearing green,purple and gold weeks ahead of Mardi Gras,but also snowmen. Cafe Du Monde served up plentiful snowflakes with its beignets. Streetcar tracks and palm trees in the city were covered in snow.
Alabama To Florida:New State Record And Gulf Beaches Buried
The snow reached southern Mississippi,southern Alabama and western Florida during the afternoon of January 21. All roads and bridges were closed in Mobile,Alabama and in parts of the Florida panhandle. All airports from Houston to Jacksonville were closed. Orange Beach,Alabama,was the first sandy landscape of many to turn wintry.
Mobile,Alabama,broke its all-time records for one- and two-day snowfall Tuesday. The city was blanketed by 7.5 inches of snow,and it added a sense of majesty to the city’s USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park. The snow gently covered the ship and surrounding aircraft on display.
The weight of more than 7 inches of snow also caused the roof of Mobile’s Civic Center to collapse. The building was set for demolition already,but the historic snowfall decided to bring the structure down early.
Mississippi
Biloxi,home of the Hurricane Hunters,saw heavy snow Tuesday afternoon. The city picked up at least 5 inches of new snow,but other parts of southern Mississippi picked up as much as 9 inches. The snow coated streets,signs and even the beach. Visibility dropped at times as low as one-quarter mile.
Before the storm hit,the Hurricane Hunters took flight into Winter Storm Enzo to investigate the storm as it neared the Gulf.
Florida
Florida has likely broken its state snowfall record. Milton,Florida,the state's previous record holder,picked up 9.8 inches of snow. This is much higher than the 4-inch record set on March 6,1954,near Milton. Several observing sites saw more than 10 inches of snow,so the final record may be higher than the 9.8 inches recorded in Milton.
Snowplows were out Tuesday night clearing parts of Interstate 10.
In addition to the Milton preliminary state record mentioned earlier,Pensacola also saw record-breaking snowfall.
The storm total of 7.6 inches is the heaviest this city has seen since the late-1800s. The previous record was a 3-inch snowstorm in February 1895
Enzo's Frigid,Icy and Windy Wake
The snow tapered off in the Outer Banks and southeast Virginia early in the day. Residents woke up to snow-covered beaches in Myrtle Beach.
Temperatures were held as low as the single digits in Louisiana due to the fresh snowpack. New Iberia,Louisiana,dropped to 2 degrees while Lafayette fell to 4 degrees. Temperatures in some parts of the state fell to levels not felt in more than 125 years.
On the northern edge of Enzo’s snowy swath,the southern and eastern sides of the Atlanta were clipped by heavy snow and ice. Some suburbs were paralyzed by the conditions and multiple pileups were reported from the metro south to Macon. Thousands of flight delays and cancellations continued,including more than 1,000 at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Winter Storm Enzo’s energy ended up crossing the Atlantic and became a major wind storm called Storm Éowyn across Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Jonathan Belles has been a graphics meteorologist and writer for www.weathernow24.com for 8 years and also assists in the production of videos for Weather Now 24 en español. His favorite weather is tropical weather,but also enjoys covering high-impact weather and news stories and winter storms. He's a two-time graduate of Florida State University and a proud graduate of St. Petersburg College.
