Historic Snowfall Hits Florida, Breaking Century-Old Records

Historic Snowfall Hits Florida: An historic January storm dumped more deep snow along the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday after bringing Houston and New Orleans to a near standstill over the past two days and burying parts of Florida's Panhandle with accumulations more typical of Chicago.

Much of the U.S. is experiencing deep chills as Arctic air sweeps across the eastern two-thirds of the country. The rare snowfall in Florida is part of what could be the biggest snow and ice storm in more than 100 years for some parts of the Gulf Coast, the weather website AccuWeather reported.

Many areas saw more snow than they have in at least 130 years.

Florida saw its most snow on record, with 9.8 inches of snow recorded in Milton, northeast of Pensacola.

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As a result of this storm, some popular snowy destinations and typically warm cities have been swapped. For January snowfall so far, Lafayette, Pensacola, New Orleans & Mobile are beating Salt Lake City, New York City, Sioux Falls, Des Moines, Boise, Flagstaff, Albuquerque, and Reno, as well as Anchorage, Fairbanks, Colorado Springs, Chicago, and Fargo.

Even for seasonal snowfall so far, Lafayette, Pensacola, New Orleans & Mobile are beating Salt Lake City, New York City, Sioux Falls, Des Moines, Boise, Flagstaff, Albuquerque, and Reno.

More than 90,000 homes and businesses were without power from Texas east into Georgia and Florida, according to Poweroutage.us. Many schools and local government offices were closed, while many highways across the region were slick, covered with snow and ice.

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Airports, including Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were temporarily closed overnight and early on Wednesday because of the storm. More than 1,400 flights were canceled in the U.S., many in the southeast and another 1,200 were delayed, according to the tracking site, Flightaware.com.

U.S. liquefied natural gas company Freeport LNG said on Wednesday it closed its export plant in Texas on Jan. 21 due to a power feed problem during the winter storm, and will keep it shut until power supply stabilizes.

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