At a Glance
- Persistent cold has fueled above-average snowfall in parts of the Lower 48 through early December.
- Anchorage, Alaska, is experiencing an early-season snow drought for the second year in a row.
- Even cities in the South have seen more snow than Anchorage so far this season.
A handful of southern U.S. cities now have more snow through early December than Anchorage, Alaska, thousands of miles to the north.
Winter Storm Diego brought double-digit snowfall totals to Lubbock, Texas (10 inches), Asheville, North Carolina (11.1 inches), and Greensboro, North Carolina (12 inches) over the weekend. Those snow amounts are also the seasonal totals for that trio of cities through Dec. 9.
It's early in the snow season, so this disparity likely won't last, but those three southern cities have easily surpassed Anchorage's seasonal snow total of 7 inches through Dec. 9. In addition, snowfall in North Carolina's capital city Raleigh has matched Anchorage at 7 inches.
Anchorage is in the midst of an early-season snow drought, and that 7-inch total is near a quarter of their of their average snow (26.4 inches) through Dec. 9. The average snow for an entire season in the south-central Alaskan city is 74.5 inches.
It's not just the South, Chicago (13 inches), Omaha, Nebraska (9.1 inches), and Kansas City (8.3 inches) have also had more snow through Dec. 9 than Anchorage. All of those Lower 48 totals are easily above average for this early in the snow season.
Part of the reason for the flip-flop is Anchorage's lack of cold air since early fall.
October was 10 degrees above average in Anchorage. The first official freeze wasn't until Oct. 28, shattering the city's record for the latest-arriving temperature of 32 degrees or lower. November and the first nine days of December have followed with temperatures much above average.
Meanwhile, the central and eastern Lower 48 states have had a shivering November and early December. That cold air supplied multiple rounds of early-season snow, including four winter storms: Avery, Bruce, Carter and Diego.
Anchorage also had a slow start to last year's snow season.
Just 10.4 inches of snow was recorded in 2017's final three months. October through December typically averages about 37.7 inches of snow.
