If you slept in on Easter Sunday morning you missed something unusual. A small amount of snow and sleet accumulated on roofs and exposed areas around the Gulf Coast.

National Weather Service Meteorologist David Eversole said, “The occurrence was due to a warmish layer of air aloft, which was just above freezing. The moisture fell through a layer of colder air and a mixture of light rain, sleet and snow was recorded at the Mobile Regional Airport. When I went outside it was mainly light rain and sleet, but the tower at the airport did report a trace of snow.”

A trace of snow this late in the year is an unusual occurrence in the area but, according to Eversole it has happened before. “This was not the latest snowfall ever recorded in the area.” “That occurred on April 11, 1988 when the weather service reported a trace of snow.”

The frozen precipitation Eversole said, “Did not last long, the ground temperature was in the 40’s, so it melted quickly. It did last a little longer on exposed areas.” Most of the visible accumulation on the Eastern Shore was on roofs of newly constructed homes which were unoccupied and unheated.

Eversole said, “The ice pellets were reported at several locations along the Gulf Coast including New Orleans, Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola.”

Snow and sleet were not the only things falling on Sunday morning. The temperatures fell to a record low. The National Weather Service says the recorded low for the morning was 38 degrees. That eclipsed the old record of 39 which occurred in 1990.