October 2017 Observations and Discussion

[OKwx2k4]

First flake of the season on my balcony: 10/31 at 1:17 PM CDT.

Awesome.

[Minny_Weather]

Coming down pretty well now. If only the flakes were bigger. 

 

I'm genuinely curious as to why I hear people mowing.

[St Paul Storm]

It's been blowing all morning with sunshine finally breaking out and temps holding steady in the upper 30's.  I must say, it's a bit cold out there!  Ready for more snow this week?  Man, last year you couldn't buy a flake and all these misses to your north and south.  Seems like things are aligning for your area this season.

Looks like an interesting little system tomorrow. 1-3” of snow before we flip to rain. Then another snow system on Saturday. I can’t complain about the start to the season. Having 2” in October was a bonus. Models painting a rosey picture through mid-November, but we’ll see. This winter shouldn’t be any worse than the last two at least.

[clintbeed1993]

Snowed good here in GI.  Back half about to come through.  I think 1 inch is easily in the cards.  Really happy!  This thing overperformed and wasn't looking impressive just a few days ago.  Hopefully that's a trend going forward for this season.

[Minny_Weather]

Okay, NOW the flakes are bigger. Accumulating on my lawn chair. Temperature has dropped to 33.1 degrees from 37.0.

[james1976]

Okay, NOW the flakes are bigger. Accumulating on my lawn chair. Temperature has dropped to 33.1 degrees from 37.0.

You might be in it a while if radar trends hold up.

[Minny_Weather]

You might be in it a while if radar trends hold up.

I'm on the SE side of Lincoln. Pretty far from the city center.

[snowstorm83]

Not bad for first flakes of the season! Especially since just last night I thought we would have to squint to see anything even in the best case scenario.

[Minny_Weather]

Oh yeah, we're getting a lot for October. We have a dusting already and we haven't even gotten the heaviest snow yet.

[mlgamer]

Hard to believe, but we're getting light accumulations now on trees, bushes, decks, etc. I didn't double check but I saw that it has been 15 years since we've had Halloween weather like this. Usually been pretty warm and nice in recent years.

[jaster220]

^^^ ..and y'all are just getting started. Over-performers (under HP no less) are a great sign. Congrats! 

 

RGEM prolly had the snow getting furthest east, and it did even better than that

 

 

[Andrew NE]

Congrats lincoln folks, nothing in OMA so far.  Snow in oct is always an awesome bonus.

[Niko]

A few snowshowers today. Put ya in that holiday spirit!

[Tom]

I'm glad to hear you guys out in the Plains scored some snow out of this wave.  It's a good sign moving forward and keeps you on your toes for last minute surprises this season.  Cheer's to more snow chances next month!

 

http://www.lovethispic.com/uploaded_images/222600-Let-It-Snow.gif

[Niko]

Brief warm-up coming later this week into early next week and then the bottom falls off.

[Minny_Weather]

About .2" on grass and elevated surfaces here. I drove up to the central part of Lincoln just now, and there wasn't much accumulation. Makes me worry than KLNK will report just a trace.

[james1976]

About .2" on grass and elevated surfaces here. I drove up to the central part of Lincoln just now, and there wasn't much accumulation. Makes me worry than KLNK will report just a trace.

Who cares as long as you had .2" in your backyard!

[jaster220]

Brief warm-up coming later this week into early next week and then the bottom falls off.

My high was 38F in October. There's a bottom?? Thought we just hit it, lol

[Minny_Weather]

Who cares as long as you had .2" in your backyard!

Yeah but I'm a data geek. It'd be nice if LNK actually recorded a measurable October snowfall.

[Niko]

My high was 38F in October. There's a bottom?? Thought we just hit it, lol

My high today was 41F.

[james1976]

Yeah but I'm a data geek. It'd be nice if LNK actually recorded a measurable October snowfall.

I hear ya on that!

[james1976]

What a cold Halloween. Only reached 37. Clouds slowly thickened throughout the day from the disturbance out in NE. Love it.

[james1976]

Adding to my post above about it being cold.....local met just said Waterloo set a record today for the 2nd coldest Halloween. I didnt catch what he said the actual high temp was though. I will post later if I find out. Great start to the cold season!

[Minny_Weather]

Has this occurred in January with cooler ground and below freezing temps, we may have gotten an inch out of this. However, for October, I'll take this. First measurable snow on my balcony of the season!

[Niko]

Man, so many trick or treaters came to my home this year. Hopefully, they are done cuz I am outta candy.

[Hawkeye]

Yesterday, we had 40 with strong wind.  The wind was much lighter today, but we only hit 36.

[Niko]

Winter 2013-14 in Detroit, MI

 

http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/REU-USA-WEATHER.jpg

[jaster220]

Yesterday, we had 40 with strong wind.  The wind was much lighter today, but we only hit 36.

Windchills were bad the past two days over here, even with a SW wind off of the warmer waters of Lk Michigan

[Niko]

Cannot remember when the last time I saw sun was. It has been very cloudy and cold along w low wc values.

[jaster220]

Marshall snuck in a 2nd hard freeze Sunday night when we plummeted to 31 prior to clouds moving in. If we drop to 30F by morning, it will be the 3rd freeze since the flip

[Niko]

@ Jaster

 

What is your lowest temp thus far this season? Mine is 29.8F. Everything that morning was cover in frost as if it had snowed.

[Niko]

Per TWC:

 

First Measurable Snow For Many Cities

For many cities in the Northeast, Midwest and West, the average first measurable snow – defined as 0.1 inches or more – has historically arrived in November.

A few of the cities that, on average, see the first accumulating snow of the season in November are Boston (Nov. 29), Chicago (Nov. 16), Cleveland (Nov. 10), Pittsburgh (Nov. 14) and Salt Lake City (Nov. 5).

The date shown for each city is the historical average for the first date of measurable snow. Any given season can produce the season's first snowfall either before or after that date, depending on weather patterns.

 

Seems like they forgot to mention a few other cities as well.

[Craig-OmahaWX]

Snowing pretty good here this evening in Omaha!

[jaster220]

@ Jaster

 

What is your lowest temp thus far this season? Mine is 29.8F. Everything that morning was cover in frost as if it had snowed.

Hit 27 that same morning, lots of frost twas clinging to the grass blades.

[Niko]

Currently @ 38F. Radar showing spotty flurries here and there.

[gabel23]

Has this occurred in January with cooler ground and below freezing temps, we may have gotten an inch out of this. However, for October, I'll take this. First measurable snow on my balcony of the season! 

If this would have happened in January I would have picked up 5"! I had almost complete white on the ground today and we had a lot of melting early on. I'm calling it an inch of snow.......not bad for October 31! Tonight's trick or treat was way cold for my two girls. This makes 4 snows on halloween in my lifetime; 1991, 1997, 2002 and now! 

[gabel23]

Some totals from Hastings CWA; two towns in my county picked up just over an inch so I would say I'm pretty close with my measurement! 

 

000
NWUS53 KGID 010146
LSRGID

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
846 PM CDT TUE OCT 31 2017

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0546 PM SNOW LOUP CITY 41.28N 98.97W
10/31/2017 M2.5 INCH SHERMAN NE CO-OP OBSERVER



0541 PM SNOW COZAD 40.86N 99.99W
10/31/2017 M2.2 INCH DAWSON NE CO-OP OBSERVER

OFFICIAL COZAD AREA TOTAL.

0447 PM SNOW SAINT PAUL 41.21N 98.46W
10/31/2017 M2.0 INCH HOWARD NE CO-OP OBSERVER

EVENT TOTAL...SNOW HAS ENDED.

0438 PM SNOW 2W ARCADIA 41.42N 99.16W
10/31/2017 M1.9 INCH VALLEY NE CO-OP OBSERVER

EVENT TOTAL...SNOW HAS ENDED.

0502 PM SNOW 5 NNE AURORA 40.93N 97.98W
10/31/2017 M1.8 INCH HAMILTON NE CO-OP OBSERVER

OFFICIAL AURORA AREA TOTAL...SNOW HAS ENDED.

0705 PM SNOW STROMSBURG 41.12N 97.59W
10/31/2017 M1.7 INCH POLK NE COCORAHS

REPORT RECEIVED VIA FACEBOOK.

0551 PM SNOW 3 N YORK 40.92N 97.60W
10/31/2017 M1.6 INCH YORK NE CO-OP OBSERVER

OFFICIAL YORK AREA TOTAL.

0440 PM SNOW 1 N OSCEOLA 41.19N 97.55W
10/31/2017 M1.2 INCH POLK NE CO-OP OBSERVER

SNOW HAS TAPERED TO FLURRIES.

0522 PM SNOW BRADSHAW 40.88N 97.75W
10/31/2017 M1.1 INCH YORK NE CO-OP OBSERVER

EVENT TOTAL.

0531 PM SNOW ORD 41.60N 98.93W
10/31/2017 M1.0 INCH VALLEY NE CO-OP OBSERVER

OFFICIAL ORD AREA TOTAL.

0100 PM SNOW MILLER 40.93N 99.39W
10/31/2017 M1.0 INCH BUFFALO NE CO-OP OBSERVER



1240 PM SNOW 1 SSW HAMPTON 40.87N 97.90W
10/31/2017 E1.0 INCH HAMILTON NE PUBLIC

REPORTED VIA TWITTER.

0449 PM SNOW GRAND ISLAND AIRPORT 40.97N 98.31W
10/31/2017 M0.9 INCH HALL NE OFFICIAL NWS OBS

OFFICIAL GRAND ISLAND TOTAL...SNOW HAS
ENDED.

0756 PM SNOW 2 NE KEARNEY 40.72N 99.06W
10/31/2017 M0.4 INCH BUFFALO NE NWS EMPLOYEE

TWO NWS EMPLOYEES IN THE NORTHEAST QUADRANT
OF TOWN AVERAGED TO 0.4".

0507 PM SNOW NWS HASTINGS OFFICE 40.65N 98.38W
10/31/2017 M0.2 INCH ADAMS NE OFFICIAL NWS OBS

OFFICIAL HASTINGS TOTAL...SNOW HAS ENDED.

[Niko]

Some light flurries reported to my south, but not sure if that's verga or not.

[Tom]

That's a wrap!

 

[jaster220]

^^^ Last HOT month for a while, dare I say it?  In the spring of '13 I made a bold statement that we were going to "miss the warmth of 2010-2012" and we sure did, with the bulk of the next 2+ yrs being cold to very cold around the GL's region.