On Tuesday, a winter storm swept through the southern United States, dumping snow at unprecedented levels for millions of residents.
Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico combined with a low-pressure system and cold air to produce significant amounts of snow in some places. That included 10.5 inches near Lafayette, Louisiana, by Tuesday afternoon, putting it within striking distance of the state record of 13 inches set in 1960.
The National Weather Service reported 7 to 8 inches of snow between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. New Orleans’ previous record was 2.7 inches, set in 1963. In Texas, the Houston-Galveston area received 2 to 4 inches before midday.
The National Weather Service’s Lake Charles, Louisiana, office issued the first-ever blizzard warning on Tuesday. The NWS Mobile office shared a video on X of two people having a snowball fight in Orange Beach, Alabama, just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many of these people down there. AccuWeather meteorologist Tom Kines predicts snowball fights for children who have never experienced them before.
The United States Gulf Coast is far better known for its hurricanes—Houston, for example, was rocked by Hurricane Beryl in July—and it’s a “fairly rare phenomenon” to see snow in the region, according to Bradley Brokamp, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Houston.
That’s a combination seen more frequently in the Northeast, which experiences snowy winters and the occasional tropical storm.
In Houston, the Yale Street Grill was almost the only business open in a single inner-city neighborhood. A couple of the restaurant’s employees found time to go outside and build a 3-foot tall snowman complete with carrot nose and scarf.
“I’ve seen every storm. I’ve been through every hurricane. So far, this has been a lot of fun. Emma Kratky, a waitress and assistant manager, said, “I have a 4-year-old daughter at home who I’m excited to get back to so she can play in the snow.”
Florida appeared to have broken its state snowfall record of 4 inches, which was set in Milton on March 6, 1954. The National Weather Service’s Mobile office reported 5 inches of rain in Pensacola.
That office also stated that Mobile’s airport had received 6.2 inches, breaking the previous record of 5 inches set on January 24, 1881.
Even the double-digit snowfall near Lafayette was far less than the Valentine’s Day snowstorm that hit parts of the Gulf Coast in 1895. The storm dumped 19 inches on Houston and 15.4 inches on Galveston.
Winter cold blasts and climate change
Meanwhile, a polar vortex disruption has left the majority of the continental United States blanketed in cold.
The Arctic polar vortex is a band of strong winds above the North Pole that normally traps extremely cold air, but is currently stretching south, allowing bone-chilling air to flow down.
According to an extreme cold warning issued by the NWS, parts of south central and southeast Texas could experience wind chills as low as 10 to 15 degrees by Wednesday.
According to scientists, these stretching events are becoming more frequent and have been linked to human-caused global warming.
According to studies, human-caused climate change is rapidly raising Arctic temperatures and decreasing the pressure and temperature differences between cold Arctic air and warmer air beneath it, increasing the likelihood of polar vortex disruptions.
