Pic of the Day: Baby, it's cold outside ... in Florida

Well, I looked only briefly, and I couldn't find anything that properly illustrated the bitter cold that beset Central Florida early Thursday.

So we're stuck with this photo near my home in the Baymeadows subdivision of Melbourne. I was outside in the 50-degree weather on a jog past this pathetic little pond, which people call a "lake" here in Florida. The wind coming off the water was stiff and quite frigid.

If you look hard enough, you'll see a rainbow in the background. Light sprinkles bounced around on the breeze.

Earlier in the day, snow flurries were reported and recorded by CNN and Orlando's NBC affiliate in Cape Canaveral, on the coast. I didn't see any snow a few miles inland in Melbourne.

Early Thursday morning, I even took a cup of cold water outside and poured it into a dip in the driveway, where it would settle and avoid running off. It was at the height of the supposedly low temperatures - almost freezing.

I went back out a bit later and checked the water. It was still exactly that - water. No ice had formed. The low in Melbourne was only 33 degrees.

I was disappointed. I'll have to settle for a cup of hot cocoa to remind me of home in New England. And considering a city nearby is called Cocoa, I could go to Cocoa and drink cocoa. Or I could go to Cocoa Beach and drink cocoa on the beach.

Well, that's the extent of the winter wonderland in Florida. For native Floridians, the weather outside is frightful. For me, it's quite amusing to witness such thin-bloodedness.