Current US Snow Cover vs Last Winter & Others

Quick look at the progression of US snow cover shows many ups and downs. The first graph shows the snow cover during two cold winters nationally starting December 15 through mid May. Interestingly, the peaks and valleys in these two winters (2013-14 and 2010-11) match up with the exception of mid January.

The numbered peaks correspond to large scale cold periods. See the US temperature anomalies below for each peak.

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The graph below shows snow cover over the same period with the two cold winters above along with the El Nino winter 2015-16 added in red. A spike in late December and two smaller ones in January preceded a steady decline from late January through the end of the winter.

The yellow line shows this winter's snow cover through December 27th now at 41%.

Expect this number to steadily climb through the first two weeks of January 2017 north of 65% given the colder long range outlook below.