Warming shelters for the homeless are open as Florida experiences its
coldest weather this winter
[January 17, 2026]
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Tourists bundled up, warming shelters for the
homeless opened and growers sprayed crops with water to create
protective ice for their plants Friday as sunny Florida shivered through
the coldest weather that parts of the state have experienced in more
than three years.
The 19 degree Fahrenheit (minus 7.2 Celsius) temperature overnight at
Tallahassee International Airport may have made the Sunshine State feel
like Green Bay, Wisconsin, but it stopped short of the record 16 F
(minus 8.9 C) almost a century ago, according to Mark Wool, a
meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.
“It's cold, but it's not all that unusual to have cold weather this time
of the year,” Wool said Friday.
There was even more un-Florida-like weather predicted for the weekend
with the National Weather Service putting the chances for snow in the
Panhandle early Sunday at between 20% and 30%. The snow was predicted to
be less than an inch (2.5 centimeters) in the western Panhandle but not
expected to impact travel because of a short duration and an expected
quick rise in temperatures afterward, Wool said.
That would make it a far cry from the 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) of
snow that fell on Pensacola almost exactly a year ago.
“The reasonably worst-case scenario is an inch since the window is only
two or three hours,” Wool said of Sunday's forecast. “But all of that
will melt away when it warms up.”
Temperatures on Saturday were expected to warm up to more Sunshine
State-like weather before dipping again Sunday and Monday. The
thermometer was expected to be a cool-for-Miami mid-50s F (12.7 C)
during Monday night’s college football championship game between Indiana
and Miami at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
The central part of Florida on Friday experienced some of the coldest
weather it has seen in more than three years as lows dipped to the
mid-20s F (minus 3.8 C), according to the National Weather Service.
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A protective coating of ice clings to ornamental plants in
sub-freezing temperatures at a business Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in
Plant City, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
In the theme park hub of Orlando, where the thermometer fell to
right at freezing overnight, water parks such as Typhoon Lagoon at
Walt Disney World were closed Friday. The water park also planned to
be closed at the beginning of next week because of the predicted
frigid weather, Disney said in an email.
In Plant City, which bills itself as the winter strawberry capital
of the world, growers used sprinklers to spray strawberry plants and
ornamental plants with water that formed a protective ice as the
overnight temperature went as low as 28 F (minus 2.2 C). The ice
kept the plants' temperatures from going below freezing. Plant City
is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Tampa.
In northeast Florida, potato growers covered their crops with extra
soil to protect against the freezing weather.
There were no widespread problems reported with any crops in
Florida, said Christina Morton, director of communications for the
Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, a growers' trade association.
“Florida is well into its winter season for fruit and vegetables, so
the timing for this cold snap was not ideal,” Morton said in an
email. “The good news is things warmed up quickly this morning, and
despite the wintry conditions, harvesting continued across much of
the state today.”
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