A winter storm brought snow and ice to the Deep South, surprising many in Charleston, Savannah, and even parts of Florida
On January 3, 2018, a storm called “Grayson” hit, covering parts of the South in snow and ice. Charleston saw 5.3 inches of snow, marking their third biggest snowfall since 1937. Savannah got over an inch, the most snow they’d seen since the cold snap before Christmas in 1989.
It was quite a sight, with snow on palm trees and icy Spanish moss. Even Florida wasn’t spared! Tallahassee recorded a tenth of an inch of snow and sleet, the first measurable snow there in 28 years. Lake City saw up to a quarter inch of ice, and some light icing was reported as far south as Levy County.
Grayson didn’t stop there; it turned into a bomb cyclone off the East Coast, causing blizzard conditions and major flooding in the Northeast. Boston Harbor even hit record tidal levels, flooding streets in the Fort Point neighborhood.
Jonathan Erdman, a senior meteorologist at weather.com, has been covering weather since 1996. He loves discussing extreme and unusual weather. You can find him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook.
