Another brutal winter?

A few days ago a polar vortex invaded the Great Plains and Great Lakes regions, dumping multiple feet of snow onto Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. There were also below average temperatures along much of the Rocky Mountains and down into the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. Now, another cold snap has struck the east coast and parts of the Gulf Coast. Of course, most of Florida and south Texas continue to enjoy fairly warm temperatures.


Here in Maryland, the temperature got down to about 35 degrees, which isn't really that cold except that last weekend it hit 66 degrees, an unseasonably warm temperature here for November. And along with the cold we even got a little snow here this evening, although I don't think it was measurable. It didn't stick to the roads and what little reached the ground probably melted already. There is a threat of some spots icing over tonight, but that should melt too since it will be mostly sunny tomorrow.


Whether or not this was legitimately our first snow of the year, it came almost a month before our first snowstorm of last year, on December 8. But that was a classic snow event with several inches on the ground and the roads completely covered. Still, this could be a lead-in to another very cold, very snowy winter. Our last snow of 2013-14 came on March 25, tying with 2012-13, and it was the last in a long line of snowstorms and ice storms that rivaled our three blizzards of the winter of 2009-10. So will the winter of 2014-15 be another historic one? Many weather sources are suggesting it, but chances are this was just a fluke autumn snow.