Motorists tooling through Tampa may have noticed piles of something folks fled Northern states to avoid and Florida natives see only a few times in their life.

Mounds of snow are accumulating at various intersections, including Willow Avenue and Platt Street and Kennedy Boulevard and Dale Mabry Highway.

Actually, the piles of snow are ice shavings from the skating rink at the St. Pete Times Forum—placed in locations throughout town by the Tampa Bay Lightning to promote the team’s season-opener Saturday.

But since it’s October in Florida, the stuff doesn’t last, so the team replenishes the supply twice a day, says a team spokesman. The snow will remain until Saturday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Were it the type of snow that falls from the sky instead of coming from the bottom of a Zamboni, any of the piles would dwarf the official National Weather Service record snowfall for Tampa.

The city’s record snowfall was 0.2 inch on Jan. 19, 1977, though places in eastern Hillsborough County got several inches that day.

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