When will be the first snow?

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Here we are, in the 3rd week of November. The countryside looks like early October, not this late in the year. I really hope we'll get a snowy winter, but I fear this year will be another warm one in all the lower elevations. Nothing would make me happier than to have my pessimism proved wrong!

Maybe in the south. Well...MAYBE in the north as well..but right now we are colder with more frost and snow than the past couple years. Here in the north, it all depends on if our weather comes straight across from Puget Sound or if our weather swoops down from British Columbia. I'm hoping for the latter.

[banjomike]

It was strange down here… Idaho Falls got dumped on, but not Pocatello, 48 miles away, or Blackfoot, 25 miles away. I wasn't here when it snow, but from what I heard, the snow was everything from powder to big wet flakes to corn snow, and then sleet.

It's gone cold here now, so what fell is still here in the shady spots, but it was warm enough yesterday to melt off everything that had some sun. last night hit 6º, the first hard freeze we've had.

There's a snow line on all the mountains, but only the big ones are white. All the others are in various stages of snow.

If this is the usual early winter cold snap, its a weird one. After checking all my weather sources, it looks like the entire state is on the boundary between a big Pacific high coming out of the Baja and colliding with a cold wet Arctic front on the Canadian border. The Pacific El; Niño is the biggest and hottest ever recorded. The Pacific is still very very warm.

I can't predict a thing, but the last time I saw something remotely similar was late Dec. 1988 after Christmas. After a week that was similar to this one, a blue norther overpowered the Pacific high, came roaring south and buried all of Idaho, Montana & Wyoming in a massive blizzard. The snow was heavy and the winds powerful. By the time the storm stopped, the snow was so packed it was like concrete. Then the temps dropped to -28 and stayed low for the next week. Hell is not warm, brothers. It is very cold.
Haven't seen anything like it since.