Our first official snow of the season fell on Monday, about two weeks behind schedule. On average, the first trace of snow or more fall on October 30th. This was the first snow since March 4th. That means we went 252 days snow free, about 54 days more than average. The typical spring-to autumn snow free period is 198 days. The only time we went longer without snow was the spring-to-autumn period of 1999 when that year's snow free period stretched to 254 days.
Speaking of snow...
About a third of the contiguous US (31%) has snow cover. That is nearly 7 times as much snow cover compared to just a week ago. It is also about three times more snow compared to last year at this time when 10.7% of the country was reporting snow cover.
As of today, the odds of a white Thanksgiving around here are slim. Most long range forecasts that look to the holiday and beyond have outlooked us for above average temperatures. The Climate Prediction Center has a large portion of the US projected to see above average temperatures in both their 6 to 10 day (see below) outlook and their 8 to 14 day outlook.
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