Can season’s first snow be very far off?

The National Weather Service in Boise has a wealth of climatological data for the Treasure Valley that has been compiled for many years.

 From the records it is possible to come up with a tremendous amount of weather information – average first freeze, last freeze, hottest low temperature, coldest high temperature, derivation from averages and other stats of trivial consequence that are interesting. 

 The cold mornings of late have me thinking about snow and when we’ll see it for the first time. Not that I want any. I don’t. 

 It can snow 20 feet in the mountains for the folks in McCall. They are ready for it and expecting it. 

 Memories of trying to drive through 17 inches of fresh powder in Weiser in my compact car one morning during the winter of 2016-17 are still surprisingly lucid in my mind.  

 I also remember getting stuck in my driveway twice in one day. The only way I got out was by tossing kitty litter behind my tires for traction. I don’t have a cat. I walked down to Pioneer Express and bought a bag. It works well for those slippery situations, I must say, and it’s adviseable to keep a bag in your trunk during the winter months.

 Getting back to those weather stats. According to the NWS, the average date of the first snow of .1 inch or more in Boise is Nov. 22 and 1 inch or more is Dec. 5  

 We haven’t seen any snow this year. It tried on Tuesday morning, spitting a mix of snow and rain but nothing that was going to stick around.

 The mountains north of Cambridge are white with a few inches of snow that fell last weekend. It’s really picturesque from afar.

 Weiser and the rest of the Treasure Valley are likely looking at the same date for the first real snow as Boise. My calendar says today is Nov. 28, so we should see an inch or more by next week, if the averages hold up.

 Or not. Nobody, even the most experienced meteorologist, can know with certainty exactly how much snow, if any, we might get in a winter. 

 I know about the weather phenomenons of Al Nino and his brother, El Nino, and their reported influence on ocean currents, which, in turn, generates moisture and storms. I don’t know what this year is – Al or El?

 The earliest measurable snowfall in Boise was 1.7 inches on Oct. 10, 2008, according to the NWS records. That must have been a cold storm in the valley to drop snow in early October. 

 But, hey, it can happen in Idaho in every month but July. I can say with 99 percent certainty that we will get some snow at some point. It is pretty much a fact of living in Idaho.

 The skiers get excited by the first snow of the season. I’ve never been a winter sports enthusiast. Too cold, even with hat, gloves and thermal underwear.

 My little brother was a great skier, hitting the slopes every weekend at Grand Targee or closer to home at Kelly’s Canyon near Idaho Falls.

 Hockey didn’t look like much fun. I couldn’t stand up on the ice with those skates, let alone try to hit a puck.

 Steve Lyon is the editor of the Weiser Signal American. Contact him at scoop@signalamerican.com