A weak cold front moved east across the Florida Peninsula on the morning of January 27th, followed by a reinforcing cold front and high pressure over the following days. This allowed temperatures over the Nature Coast to cool to below freezing for a few hours on the morning of January 30th.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS TBW wrote it up.
A weak cold front moved east across the Florida Peninsula on the morning of January 27th, followed by a reinforcing cold front and high pressure over the following days. This allowed temperatures over the Nature Coast to cool to below freezing for a few hours on the morning of January 30th. No crop damage was reported.
Temperatures in parts of Levy County fell to below freezing for around 3 hours. The coldest temperature reported was 29 degrees at the COOP station at Chiefland.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 29, 1:51 PM EST, 16 hours 9 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL
151 PM EST SUN JAN 29 2012
.SHORT TERM (TONIGHT - TUESDAY)...A WEAK SECONDARY COLD FRONT WILL
MOVE ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT AND MONDAY WITH NO REAL NOTICABLE
EFFECTS. A RATHER STRONG AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE...CURRENTLY AROUND
1032 MB...WILL MOVE EASTWARD ALONG THE NORTHERN GULF COAST TONIGHT
TO BE CENTERED OVER GEORGIA ON MONDAY. THIS WILL INCREASE THE
PRESSURE GRADIENT OVER THE STATE RESULTING IN A BREEZY DAY. LOW
TEMPERATURES TONIGHT WILL DIP INTO THE MID 30S OVER PARTS OF LEVY
AND CITRUS COUNTY WHERE PATCHY FROST IS FORECAST...BUT MOST AREAS
SHOULD STAY ABOVE 40 DEGREES.
THE HIGH CENTER WILL MOVE OUT INTO THE ATLANTIC MONDAY NIGHT BUT
WILL RIDGE BACK TOWARD THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S. THROUGH THE DAY ON
TUESDAY. THIS WILL KEEP MODERATE EASTERLY FLOW OVER THE REGION AND
BEGIN A GRADUAL WARMING TREND WITH TEMPERATURES CLIMBING TO NEAR
80 DEGREES BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON FROM THE TAMPA BAY AREA SOUTHWARD.
.LONG TERM (PREVIOUS DISCUSSION TUESDAY NIGHT-SUNDAY)...FAST UPPER
FLOW TO BRING SEVERAL UPPER IMPULSES OVER THE REGION COMBINED WITH
INCREASING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND AN OLD BOUNDARY IN THE AREA FOR
SLIGHT CHANCES OF SHOWERS THROUGH MID WEEK. DEEPENING TROUGH
DROPPING INTO THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY AND DEEP SOUTH TO
PUSH SURFACE COLD FRONT OVER THE AREA LATE FRI INTO SAT TIME FRAME
WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AHEAD AND ALONG THE
FRONT. HUMID ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AHEAD OF FRONT AND COOLER
DRIER CONDITIONS BEHIND THE FRONT TO END THE PERIOD.
&&
.AVIATION...
A WEAK DISTURBANCE THAT PRODUCED SOME MID-HIGH LEVEL CLOUDINESS
ACROSS THE REGION IS PASSING TO THE EAST CLEARING THE AREA
SOMEWHAT. SFC HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO BUILD INTO THE REGION
FROM THE NORTH PROVIDING DRY AIR IN THE LOWER LEVELS OF THE
ATMOSPHERE. EXPECT SOME RETURN OF THE HIGH CLOUDS ON MON...BUT VFR
CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL THROUGH THE TAF PERIOD GIVEN THE SFC HIGH
AND ASSOC DRY AIR.
&&
.MARINE...EASTERLY SURGE ALONG WITH TIGHTENING PRESSURE GRADIENT
TONIGHT SHOULD ALLOW WINDS TO REACH 20 KNOTS IN THE WATERS BETWEEN
20 AND 60 MILES OFFSHORE. WILL ISSUE A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY WITH
THIS PACKAGE. MODELS DIFFER SOME ON WHEN THE 20 KNOT WINDS WILL
RELAX...BUT TYPICALLY THEY WILL WEAKEN BY EARLY AFTERNOON. WILL
KEEP THE ADVISORY UP THROUGH 4 PM MONDAY BUT MAY BE ABLE TO TAKE
IT DOWN EARLIER THAN THAT.
OTHERWISE EXPECT ENHANCED EASTERLY FLOW TO CONTINUE THROUGH
TUESDAY NIGHT...THEN THE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WEAKENS AND
SETTLES SOUTHWARD OVER THE STATE RESULTING IN LIGHTER WINDS
THROUGH THURSDAY. A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY MAY AFFECT THE WATERS
ON FRIDAY.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...LOW HUMIDITIES WILL AFFECT MOST OF THE REGION
MONDAY AFTERNOON BUT FUELS ARE NOT OVERLY DRY. WINDS WILL BE IN
THE 13 TO 18 MPH RANGE RESULTING IN THE POTENTIAL FOR
INSTANTANEOUS RED FLAG CONDITIONS...MAINLY FROM HILLSBOROUGH AND
POLK COUNTIES SOUTHWARD THROUGH LEE COUNTY. THIS WILL BE A
MARGINAL EVENT SO CONFIDENCE WAS NOT HIGH ENOUGH TO ISSUE A RED
FLAG WARNING...BUT HIGH ENOUGH TO WARRANT A WATCH FOR ALL BUT
CITRUS AND LEVY COUNTY AT THIS TIME.
HUMIDITIES INCREASE ABOVE CRITICAL VALUES AFTER MONDAY.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
TPA 50 74 55 78 / 0 0 0 0
FMY 53 78 56 82 / 0 0 0 0
GIF 48 72 52 77 / 0 0 0 0
SRQ 50 76 53 79 / 0 0 0 0
BKV 39 73 45 79 / 0 0 0 0
SPG 55 71 58 76 / 0 0 0 0
&&
.TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FL...FIRE WEATHER WATCH FROM MONDAY MORNING THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON
FOR CHARLOTTE-DE SOTO-HARDEE-HERNANDO-HIGHLANDS-
HILLSBOROUGH-LEE-MANATEE-PASCO-PINELLAS-POLK-SARASOTA-
SUMTER.
GULF WATERS...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM
EST MONDAY FOR BONITA BEACH TO ENGLEWOOD OUT 20 TO 60 NM-
ENGLEWOOD TO TARPON SPRINGS OUT 20 TO 60 NM-TARPON SPRINGS TO
SUWANNEE RIVER OUT 20 TO 60 NM.
&&
SHORT TERM/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...JILLSON
LONG TERM/AVIATION...GITTINGER1 frost/freeze. Local standard time, as filed.
Temperatures in parts of Levy County fell to below freezing for around 3 hours. The coldest temperature reported was 29 degrees at the COOP station at Chiefland.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, January 2012
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 361687.