Sierra Nevada to receive feet of snow (again) while Chicago closes in on record snow drought

ROANOKE, Va. – Winter officially begins Tuesday in the Northern Hemisphere, but you can’t always go by a calendar when it comes to weather. For instance, we’ll have more of a November feel around here as we get closer to Christmas.

Odds of a White Christmas

Speaking of Christmas, a white one will only be in your dreams this year. The jet stream is locked too far north to give us the cold air and moisture dance that we need for measurable snow.

Nearly Historic Snow Drought in Chicago

In fact, the jet stream is so far north that the Windy City is missing out on snow too. The record for the latest first snow in Chicago is 12/20/2012. That record has been broken.

Now, it’s closing in on another record. The longest snow drought for Chicago is 290 days. Currently, it’s gone 280 days without measurable snow (0.1″ of snow or more).

In the Roanoke Valley, we’ve gone 296 days without our last measurable snow, and that’s nowhere close to a record.

Feet of Snow in the Sierra Nevada

It seems as though the tallest peaks out west are hogging it all, which is pretty typical of a La Niña winter. Upper-level winds favor cooler, wetter weather in the Pacific Northwest and warmer, drier weather in the southern part of the country.

The National Weather Service in Sacramento is warning of yet another train of storm systems that will dump feet of snow in elevations above 4,500 feet.

In fact, it’s saying that there will be localized totals of up to ten feet of snow!

Could you imagine? In the words of Bing Crosby, “If only in my dreams.”