Florida sees heaviest snowfall in states history as unprecedented winter storm slams the South

Florida spent Tuesday preparing for its most significant bout of winter weather since 1989, with airports closing and officials calling for residents in the western Panhandle to stay off the roads.Widespread reports of 5″ to 12″ of snowfall were reported around Pensacola on Tuesday evening, which caused troopers to shut down a nearly 70-mile stretch of Interstate 10.National Weather Service offices along the corridor issued a rare Winter Storm Warning for counties from Pensacola to Jacksonville and warned of snow and ice accumulations that could make travel hazardous.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency on Monday ahead of the wintry mess and said that for communities in the Panhandle, the wintry mess could be record-breaking.The all-time greatest snowfall in the Sunshine State was 4″ in Milton, outside of Pensacola, on March 6, 1954, which was eclipsed on Tuesday by tallies around Pensacola.“I don’t have to tell anybody that we’re not necessarily used to walking in a winter wonderland here in Florida,” DeSantis said during a news briefing at the state’s emergency operations center.Utility providers across the I-10 corridor were preparing for weather-related outages, which would likely occur if a significant amount of ice fell.A stretch of I-10 shut down in Florida due to the snow.FOX Weather Meteorologist Steve Bender was in Tallahassee on Tuesday, waiting for the liquid precipitation to change over to freezing rain and even snow.The capital city appeared similar to a ghost town as residents were not willing to take the storm for granted, especially after an active hurricane season in the region.The heaviest snowfall in the Sunshine State occurred around Pensacola, where spotters reported measuring amounts of 5 to 12 inches through Tuesday evening.Due to the hazardous weather and a series of crashes, a nearly 70-mile stretch of Interstate 10 was shut down by the Florida Highway Patrol.Emergency officials said they had pretreated ...