Orlando International Airport was forced to halt all flights Sunday afternoon after “extreme cold” caused an emergency at the air traffic tower, the New York Post reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reportedly issued a ground stop warning early Sunday afternoon due to a “possible fire” in the air traffic control tower. However, the order was lifted at 16:15 (local time) after the cause was determined.
In fact, the extreme cold — currently 43 degrees — caused a warhead to activate in the facility’s fire suppression system, the New York Post reported.
The agency issued a “fire/safety” warning that the tower was being evacuated due to a possible fire, with the likelihood of an extended ground shutdown listed as “moderate.”
There were 213 flight delays reported to or from Florida’s busiest airport on Sunday, according to FlightAware.
Low temperatures
Cold records were broken across the Sunshine State on Sunday, with Daytona Beach, Leesburg, Sanford, Orlando, Melbourne, Vero Beach and Fort Pierce hitting the coldest temperatures ever recorded in February.
In Orlando, the mercury dipped to 28 degrees in 1936, but on February 1st it set a new record when the temperature dropped to a chilly 24 degrees.
The dry weather was enough for the National Weather Service to issue an extreme cold warning for every county in east central Florida from 7 p.m. Sunday until 10 a.m. Monday.
The NWS warned of “dangerously cold wind chills” with temperatures as low as 14-20 degrees in Volusia, Lake, Seminole, Orange, Brevard, Osceola, Indian River, Okeechobee, Saint Lucie and Martin counties.