ORLANDO, Fla – The coldest air Central Florida has felt since 2010 is set to blast in on Saturday evening.
Along with the rare blast of cold could come another rare feat, flakes in Florida.
The National Weather Service highlighted the Gulf Coast and a sliver of Central Florida’s east coast for the very small probability of wintry precipitation Sunday morning.
The mechanism for possibly getting a few flakes will be different along each coast, as the air will be very dry.
Gulf Coast
The ‘highest’ chance for messy flakes or a wintry mix will be right along the Gulf coast.
All of the moisture from Saturday’s cold front will be long gone, but Gulf effect moisture could develop.
The wind direction is key. If it is too far out of the west, relatively warmer air could be pushed back in.
If the wind is due north, the precipitation will never get onto land. A northwest or west-northwest wind would provide the best chance for snow getting to the east of I-75.
This is the same mechanism that creates lake effect snow across the Great Lakes as Arctic air moves over a relatively warmer body of water. This creates rising air, which promotes precipitation development.
If its cold enough from the cloud layer to the surface, that precipitation will be snow.
Any flakes that fly will not accumulate.
East Coast of Central Florida
There is a non-zero, but lower chance to see a few flakes or a brief wintry mix along Central Florida’s east coast Sunday morning.
The mechanism to get the wintry precipitation in this case will be from a developing area of low pressure along the cold front.
Like on the Gulf side, the main chunk of moisture will be long gone before the cold arrives.
After the cold front passes, however, a large storm is expected to develop off the Northeast Coast of Florida, sending some moisture back into the Sunshine State.
The ‘highest’ chance for moisture to push back in from the Atlantic and meet back up with the cold will be northeast of Jacksonville.