Florida winters never tend to challenge residents to be like the northerners but an unexpected intense surge of Arctic air transformed routine in several parts of the peninsula every day. They were cold in others, and handed a kind of grab bag of scenes which would not otherwise share a weekend together: a couple of curved snowflakes, waterfalls bordered with ice, and snakes falling out of trees.
There were real consequences that came with the plunge of the temperature besides novelty. The wildlife reacted instantly, farms went into shield mode, and households had to deal with cold-weather issues that they had encountered previously in a state that does not have many structures, gardens, and automobiles prepared with freezes.
1. The snow flurries indicate the extent to which the cold air had penetrated to the south
The extent of the cold air mass was highlighted by light snow sightings in portions of Florida where the accumulation was small. Flurries could be seen at airports in Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Marianna, and the inhabitants of the Gulf Coast North of Tampa also recorded light snow. It was not as much about what was on the ground but what it represented: what it represented was a drop in temperatures and wind chills down to levels that many Floradians would regard as an ordinary winter day.
2. South Florida has never experienced the extreme lows that were experienced
The cold had settled in all night long, and penetrated a long way into those places which normally depend upon the ocean to cool them down. Miami hit 35 degrees, the highest daily temperature there has been since 1909, and West Palm Beach dropped to 30 degrees, its lowest on that day in about 36 years. Central Florida also dropped to below the freezing point, with Orlando dropping well into the upper 20s, which soon becomes inconvenience to pipes, tender landscaping, and any person who spends more than a few hours outside.
3. When the temperatures of the rivers fell, manatees crowded in spring
Cold does not simply alter the manner in which people dress, it alters the places where living things can survive. At Blue spring state park in orange city, numbers soared fast with manatees flocking into the spring to take the perpetual warmth. The park reported a surge of close to 1,000 manatees on Feb. 2 and an update showed that the river temperature was 55.9 F. This is simply because the park has observed that manatees can hardly survive in water temperatures of 68 degrees or less over an extended time, and thus springs act as a temporary place of refuge when cold air lingers.
4. Iguanas stunned by cold made walking along the streets a biological risk
In South Florida, green iguanas which are an invasive species would become frozen and lose their grip and drop out of trees in the cold. Wildlife authorities have always warn that such animals would seem deceased but they could come back to life when the temperatures turned around making it a very tricky affair to any individual who attempts to handle them.
In this cold snap, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had a temporary permit authorizing the removal of live cold-stunned green iguanas by the public without a permit under a limited executive order conditional upon the drop-offs at specific offices. The instructions were to use protective attire, put animals in breathable cloth bags and transport them as fast as possible so that they would not have time to escape in case they regained consciousness during transportation.
5. Farms perceived the freeze as an emergency of high stakes and heavy work
The freeze in Florida does not only endanger the backyard plants, but it can wipe months of investment in agriculture. Growers were ready in Southwest Florida to endure long periods of cold and wind which heightened the chances of damage and hundreds of millions of dollars were said to be in crops and inputs at stake statewide. A single large-scale producer explained how he was using improvised materials and field-sized covers to cover nearly 1,000 acres, and other producers were using overhead irrigation to keep millions of plants covered. It was not the extent to which the temperatures went down, but the duration of downness, since multiple hours of temperatures below zero may have varied effects than a temporary drop.
6. The cold snap was practically centred on the Five P’s checklist
In the case of households, preparation was the most convenient framing: individuals, pets, pipes, plants, and fire safety. The Florida Division of Emergency Management stressed that cold may cause injuries and exhaustion to the residents who are not used to days of spending much time outside, and it may pose foreseeable dangers to homes as plumbing and outdoor sprinklers will be exposed to freezing temperatures. A horticulture tip that went round was to water before a freeze, as the moisture in the soil allows the heat to pass through it more readily than dry soil and therefore provides the roots with some defense in an event of a drop in temperature.
The same advice emphasized the importance of fire safety: space heaters were to be plugged into wall sockets, and were to be kept out of sight of flammable materials, and to be never left unattended. In a state where heating systems could have been left not used in months, it was also recommended that affordable people should also consider abnormal odors or smoke as an indication to close systems and inspect them but not to think that everything is alright.
The cold snaps in Florida are best kept in memory because of the odd sights they make- snow in the air, igs in the ground, manatees in the water, a pile of stones. What is more permanently learned is how easily the daily systems of the state, whether on farms or pets or plumbing, can be put to the test when Arctic air forces its way down to the peninsula.
