Early snow cover in Lower 48 is highest in two decades

The nation’s first snows of the season in the past week have resulted in the most extensive early-November snow cover in at least two decades.

On Wednesday morning, snow was on the ground in 17.9 percent of the Lower 48, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Locations from Minnesota to New York saw snow on Halloween. Areas downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario were also blanketed early Wednesday, including Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, while several inches were anticipated along the Appalachian Mountains.

The snow was the product of a powerful early-season outbreak of cold air. It brought a handful of record lows in the northern Plains on Halloween and to the south and east of there on Wednesday morning.

About 119 million Americans began Wednesday at or below freezing; the temperature averaged over the Lower 48 was more than 10 degrees below average.

Numerous locations across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri flirted with or broke record lows Wednesday morning. In the Smoky Mountains, the low of 8 degrees in Mount LeConte, Tenn. was their earliest single-digit low ever.

The early blast is not necessarily a harbinger of the rest of the winter, though. Computer models suggest that warmer-than-normal conditions will replace the wintry weather over the next week or two. A lot of the snow outside the mountains will probably melt away pretty quickly.



Snow and sub-freezing temps freeze flowers and cover pumpkins in Chicago. (Photo: Kiichiro Sato/AP)