Once again, South Dakota has had record-breaking snowfall, although, fortunately not the four to five feet dump that it saw in October.
Don’t be surprised—so far 18 states, from Washington to Pennsylvania, have broken snow records. For drivers, snow is a nuisance, but in the Western US and on ski slopes, the cold stuff is white gold!
There’s been even more rain than snow. In October, states broke more than 2500 precipitation records and November shows signs of also being active. Notice, a lot of this rain is going to drought-stricken areas of the Midwest and Great Plains.
Click to enlarge this picture.
Record-breaking rainfall (green dots) has brought drought relief for the Midwest and Great Plains.
For many readers (especially the skiers) the big question is whether this autumn rain will translate into beautiful white snow. According to most experts—YES!
There are two reasons for this. In the north, the Arctic air mass is unusually cold, creating the coldest summer on record. To the south and east, the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico, is warmer than normal. The cold Arctic air is surging south, meeting the hot wet air. As the hot air cools, it can hold less moisture and the water in the air rains out. As the air turns even colder, the rain becomes snow.
The Arctic had the coldest summer on record this year. Photo courtesy of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder.
We have already seen snowfall from Chicago to Boston, New York City and Philadelphia. By mid-winter, temperatures should be cold enough for the snow to linger. Think White Christmas!
White gold! Source: Wikipedia, photograph by David Shankbone
Meanwhile, for those of you in the half of the country (55%) that is dry or in drought, there is good news. The drought is not ending, but the snow and moisture is bringing a lot of relief, particularly for the Midwest, Great Plains and Central Rockies. (Sorry, California!) If snow is white gold, then this winter should be golden.
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I'm just going to go ahead and say winter has arrived early this year. This coming week we'll have bitter cold temperatures and NOAA is projecting below normal temperatures for the first week of December. Here in central North Carolina we have a chance of seeing a wintry mix from the same storm impacting Texas and New Mexico dumping snow. I feel pretty confident we'll see our first significant snowfall of the season soon! Winter is off to a busy start and I am confident this winter will be colder than the past couple of years. Spread the wealth to NC as well please! Snow is so beautiful and I would love some snow before Christmas to cover the pretty lights and decorations in white. Crossing my fingers for a cold holiday season. Have a great Thanksgiving! :D
I would love to see Mr. Snow bunny in the Raleigh, NC area. *sigh*
I will hope with you. It's a bit harder to have a white Christmas in Texas than it is in most states.
We are really hoping to have a nice snow week in the Southern area of the country-namely, West TN (Memphis & outlying communities). If we get any sign of snow,it is usually the slushy stuff or ice. Wet winters are not my favorite. We have had 3 full seasons so far in 2013. Very unusual here. Especially the last 5 years.
It has been a very nice summer with a full fall. I am only guessing that we are due for a cold winter but how cold and how long is always the question. The saying is, " stick around for a few hours and the weather will change from mild cold to very warm to slightly cold again." We need a good cold winter with some nice snow fall. Hope it's coming this year.
A lot of experts seem to think that a cold winter in the Southeast may have a slow start but arrive by mid-winter. Good luck!
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