ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A video circulating on social media appears to show snow flurries coming from the St. Augustine Lighthouse. The video was taken by a lighthouse employee on Thursday and was posted on social media begging for an explanation of the weather phenomenon. So, let's verify.
THE QUESTION
Was there snow at the St. Augustine Lighthouse on Thursday?
THE SOURCES
First Coast News Most Accurate Weather Team
THE ANSWER
WHAT WE FOUND
Sorry snow lovers, but no, there was not snow in St. Augustine on Thursday, according to First Coast News Meteorologist Lee Southwick.
For snow to develop, temperatures must be freezing, 32 degrees or colder, from the clouds down to the surface.
Meanwhile in St. Augustine on Thursday night, the freezing level, or the point in the atmosphere where it actually became freezing, was thousands of feet above the ground.
Other viewers questioned the possibility that the 'snow' in the video was actually sleet.
"It also wasn't, because although you have that pocket of warm air, you need it to be freezing again at the surface," Southwick said.
So what was really in the video? According to Southwick, it was just rain.
"Because it was actually in the low 60s at the surface in St. Augustine. Even 140 feet up at the lighthouse, it was still not freezing, again, that freezing level was thousands of feet above our head," said Southwick.
Southwick described what was seen in the video as a "blowing drizzle" or rain light enough to be blown around by the wind, which gave it the appearance of snow flurries.