What's the closest place to the equator that snow has ever been recorded?

[neutron star]

On New Years Eve, we got about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of snow here in Lafayette, LA. Of course it didn't stay on the ground, but I could judge the amount by how much had piled up on the car. Natives said it was the first snow we've had since 1982 or so. Shreveport and the rest of northern LA get snow once every year or two, I guess, but Lafayette is just an hour off the Gulf, so we see it once in a blue moon. I was walking through a grocery store parking lot when it was starting, and every single person in that lot was walking along with their head pointed upwards and smiling. Made me chuckle. I think it would have been the opposite reaction in my native Pennsylvania.

Anyway, it got me wondering. What's the closest point to the equator that snow has ever been recorded in modern times?

[Freyr]

Probably right at the equator, since it passes thru the Andes Mountain chain in Equador, I believe.

[Coldfire]

A WAG: the Kilimanjaro, on the border between Kenia and Tanzania.

I'll look up how far it is from the equator.

[Coldfire]

Dammit!!

The Andes. Of course

[neutron star]

Okay, let me rephrase that. Mountains don't count because their temperatures are based more on altitude than latitude. Let's say a maxium elevation of 4,000 or 5,000 feet. Where then? Has it ever snowed in Miami? Mexico?

[scratch1300]

It snowed in Miani in, IIRC, 1975. It was the first time in recorderd history, and a lot of tropical flora vanished, unable to withstand the freeze.

[broccoli!]

It has snowed in Ft. Myers, FL before... that's pretty close to the equator

[barbitu8]

I'd bet that Mexico has had snow, but I can't confirm that. I'm quite sure, for example, that Ciudad Juarez, just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, has seen snow, since El Paso has.

I was in Mexico City sometime back in the 70's and it was cold enough to snow. It was a record-breaking coldsnap. Mexico City is quite far south in Mexico. So I'd bet the norther part of Mexico, at least, has seen snow in recent years.

[bibliophage]

I'm pretty sure it has snowed in Sao Paulo, which is just south of the Tropic of Capricorn. If not in the city, then certainly nearby. The elevation thereabouts is 3,000 ft., within your cutoff of 4-5k.

Several cities above your elevation cutoff have at least been cold enough to snow: Mexico City, Addis Ababa, Bogota, Quito, and Arequipa (Peru) have all been at least down to 32ºF, but they are all at around 8,000 ft of elevation or more.

Nairobi has never been colder than 40, but it too is above the elevation cutoff.

You can look for record lows for world cities at http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/worldcli.htm I couldn't find a database of world snowfall, only temperature.

[dougie_monty]

It apparently snowed in the Los Angeles Basin--notice that isn't the mountainous region--in 1948. (But I wasn't born until 1949 and we didn't come out here from Indiana until 1952.)
Maybe the lower the elevation, the better the record, since, as one poster pointed out, mountainous areas shouldn't be included.

[Happy Feet]

There was once snow all aong many regions of the equator. I dont remember how long ago but it was during a time some of my friends and I like to call the Ice Age. Anyway, as far as I know, the was snow and ice all over the whole world then! Incredible!

[BobT]

Originally posted by dougie_monty
It apparently snowed in the Los Angeles Basin--notice that isn't the mountainous region--in 1948. (But I wasn't born until 1949 and we didn't come out here from Indiana until 1952.)
Maybe the lower the elevation, the better the record, since, as one poster pointed out, mountainous areas shouldn't be included.

There has been measureable snowfall in both Los Angeles and San Diego in the 20th Century. The San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles had a meaureable snowfall in February of 1989. The one inch of snow entitled me to a "snow day" from work as I was then working in Santa Clarita (alt. ~2000 ft) which received about 6 inches of snow.

Snow plowing equipment is hard to come by in the Los Angeles Basin as almost all of it is kept up in the nearby mountains.

[Fear Itself]

Originally posted by broccoli!
It has snowed in Ft. Myers, FL before... that's pretty close to the equator

Yeah, only 1,854 miles north! I checked this source for the distance between Ft. Myers, Florida and Quito, Ecuador (since they are at practically the same longitude, and Quito is just about right on the Equator) There is also a map of the relative distance.

[Badtz Maru]

Originally posted by Happy Feet
There was once snow all aong many regions of the equator. I dont remember how long ago but it was during a time some of my friends and I like to call the Ice Age. Anyway, as far as I know, the was snow and ice all over the whole world then! Incredible!

For one thing, we are still in an Ice Age. It will be over when there are no permanent polar ice caps. Secondly, during the colder parts of the Ice Ages the ice caps advanced a lot further towards the equator than they do now, but have never gotten close to the equator.

[Fillet]

Originally posted by Badtz Maru
... during the colder parts of the Ice Ages the ice caps advanced a lot further towards the equator than they do now, but have never gotten close to the equator.

[side note] That is true for the Pleistocene and Permian ice ages, but there were in fact continental ice sheets, at sea level & within 8 degrees of the equator, at three separate intervals in the Precambrian. Maximum ice advance from the north pole during the last ice age was down to about 39 deg. latitude. [/side note]