Orlando International Airport was forced to ground all flights on Sunday afternoon after “extreme cold” sparked an emergency in the air traffic tower, the New York Post reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reportedly issued an alert about the ground stop due to a “possible fire” at an air traffic control tower early Sunday afternoon. The order, however, was lifted at 4:15 PM (local time) after the cause was determined.
In reality, the extreme cold — currently 43 degrees — caused a sprinkler head in the facility's fire suppression system to activate, the New York Post reported.
The agency sent out a bare-bones “fire alarm/safety” advisory that a tower was evacuating due to a possible fire, with the possibility of the ground stop being extended rated as “medium.”
According to FlightAware, 213 flight delays were reported at Florida’s busiest airport on Sunday.
Cold temperatures
Sunday saw cold records smashed across the Sunshine State, with Daytona Beach, Leesburg, Sanford, Orlando, Melbourne, Vero Beach and Fort Pierce all setting their coldest February lows.
In Orlando, the mercury fell to 28 degrees in 1936, but on 1 February, it set a new record when the temperature dipped to a chilly 24.
The brisk weather prompted the National Weather Service to issue an extreme cold warning for every county in east-central Florida, lasting from 7 PM Sunday through 10 AM. Monday.
NWS warned of “dangerously cold wind chills” to come, with temperatures as low as 14-20 degrees across Volusia, Lake, Seminole, Orange, Brevard, Osceola, Indian River, Okeechobee, Saint Lucie and Martin counties.
