A winter storm brought a rare sight to Florida’s Big Bend this week — snow. But for many homeowners, the real surprise came not from the frozen precipitation itself but from the havoc it caused.

In a region where winters are typically mild and snow is practically unheard of, the storm dumped inches of ice and snow, triggering damage no one saw coming: collapsed swimming pool enclosures.

Bill Schack, a pool owner in the Big Bend area of the Florida Panhandle, described the shock his family felt when they heard a loud crash on the evening of January 21. At first, they thought it was a tree falling, he said. But what they found instead was far more surprising. Snow and ice had buckled the roof of their pool enclosure, crushing pool handles, ripping apart chairs, and leaving a tangled mess of broken screens and aluminum.

“Heard this loud bang; thought it might have been a tree; but opened the door and saw it was this,” Schack said.

Schack thinks the repairs could cost as much as $50,000, and he’s thankful they have insurance.

The storm also stunned Craig Richards, another Big Bend homeowner, who likely would have bet on a hurricane taking down his pool enclosure long before considering a few inches of snow could do the job. Like many Floridians, Richards and his family were thrilled by the rare sight of snowfall, even relaxing in their hot tub as the first flakes fell.

But by the next day, their excitement had turned into disbelief as their pool enclosure lay in ruins.

“I heard a loud rumbling noise, which I believe was the snow shifting on our roof,” Richards said. “The moment it touched the enclosure, I walked out of our master door and watched it collapse. It was fun — until that happened.”

In Tallahassee, there were additional reports of snow-collapsed pool enclosures.

Tallahassee resident Starr Clay said that hers crashed under the weight of the snow. Other homeowners in her neighborhood are facing the same problem.

But considering recent news events, she actually feels lucky that the pool enclosure is her biggest problem.

'My husband and I did not lose it all in a fire. We were not hit by a hurricane, and we are so fortunate even though this is going to cost us a fortune,' Clay said.