Today is a very cool anniversary—no pun intended. On this day back in 1977, it snowed in Miami, Florida.
I was there. I was in my math class at Miami Shores Elementary. The side of the classroom was covered with a wall of windows, and suddenly this white fluff was floating down. Snow flurries!
I don’t remember which happened first: whether our teacher gave us permission to go outside, or whether we stormed the door, and he acquiesced after the fact. Either way, we ran outside to touch the snow flurries in the air.
I had only seen snow once before. Two years earlier, I had flown with my parents to Omaha, Nebraska in January to visit my sister and her family. That had been my only experience with snow. And it certainly had never snowed in Miami in my lifetime.
My math teacher was also a science teacher, so when we got back inside, he gave a spontaneous lesson about snow in a warm climate. I’m not sure we really heard what he said; we were too excited. But I was grateful he made the most of the moment.
I remember thinking, even at that young age, that we had to focus on the snow because it was historic. Thankfully, our teacher agreed. That moment will forever be etched in my memory.
Snow in Miami — a newspaper clipping to learn more about that historic moment.
Exploring Generations 