Snow Falls In Central Fla.; Hundreds Without Power On Coldest Morning

Resident Says Snowing Hard Enough To Use Wipers On Cars

POSTED: 6:40 am EST January 2, 2008

UPDATED: 12:03 pm EST January 3, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Some residents in Daytona Beach and other parts of Central Florida photographed snowflakes in their neighborhoods as temperatures fell below freezing early Thursday.

VIEWER PHOTOS: Snowflakes In Daytona

The Macklefish family snapped several photos of snow around their Volusia County home at about 8 a.m. and sent them to Local6.com.

"We are getting some returns and we have had a couple of returns that have made their way on shore," Local 6's Elizabeth Hart said. "I'm not sure if it has reached the ground but atmospheric conditions are such that there may be a couple of flurries that way."

Another resident said it was snowing hard enough near Ormond Beach that she had to use her windshield wipers during her commute.

Conditions in parts of Central Florida were favorable for snow flurries Thursday because of clouds similar to those in the Great Lakes states that produce lake-effect snow.

A hard freeze warning was issued for areas north of Interstate 4 and counties located south of I-4 were under a general freeze warning.

With the wind chill, it felt like 15 degrees in Ocala, Local 6 reported Thursday.

A gradual warm-up is expected over the next two days in Central Florida.

"By the time we get to the weekend, we are right back into some warm Florida temperatures," Hart said.

Saturday's high temperature is expected to be 74 degrees in Orlando.

Hundreds Without Power

Hundreds of Central Floridians were left without power on the coldest day in years due to several outages, according to officials.

Progress Energy said some 2,000 families near University Boulevard and the 417 were without power Thursday after temperatures fell into the high 20s and low 30s.

Another reported outage left nearly 1,000 families without electricity in the Orlo Vista area of Orange County.

Progress Energy said an equipment problem blew out a major part of a grid at about 1 a.m. Thursday. The problem was fixed about four hours later.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.