U.S. Snow Cover Was Highest In 11 Months Following Winter Storm Decima

Brian Donegan
Published: December 20,2016
Winter Storms Caly and Decima blanketed generally the same regions with widespread accumulating snow in the first two full weeks of December, allowing snow cover to steadily increase to its highest level since late January.
Much of the snow from those two storms fell from the mountain West to the upper Midwest and interior Northeast. Arctic air filtering in behind Decima this past weekend led to light accumulations of snow even farther south than with Caly, with less than a week between the two winter storms.
(MORE: How Winter Storms Are Named | Winter Storm Central)
As of Sunday, Lower 48 snow cover was analyzed by NOAA as 54.8-percent coverage. It was slightly lower, 54.0 percent, on Monday.
The last time snow cover has been this extensive in the Lower 48 states was after Winter Storm Jonas on Jan. 24, when snow cover was 56.5 percent.
(MORE: Winter Storm Jonas Was New York City's Heaviest Snowstorm on Record)

54.8 percent of the Lower 48 states were covered by snow Sunday morning, Dec. 18, 2016.
(NOAA)

Where Snow Has Been Well Above Average – So Far

Bismarck, North Dakota, has seen 31 inches of snow this season, as of Sunday. This is 14.8 inches above average for mid-December.
Billings, Montana, has picked up 29.3 inches of snow, just over a foot above average in that city, through Sunday.
Milwaukee is another city with above-average snowfall through mid-December. They have seen 18.2 inches of snow, as of Sunday, which is 9.9 inches more than average.
A real surprise has been Binghamton, New York, where 53.7 inches of snow has fallen. This is 37.3 inches above average and more snow than they saw all last winter (32 inches).
(MORE: Winter Storm Argos a Record Snowstorm For Binghamton, New York)
Temperatures are expected to rebound closer to average in the week ahead, so snow cover will wane with time as we get closer to Christmas.
Meteorologists define a white Christmas as one in which there is at least one inch of snow on the ground on Christmas morning. It doesn't have to be snowing on the holiday for that to happen, of course. Below is our current white Christmas forecast.

White Christmas Forecast

If you like to see snowflakes falling from the sky as you exchange presents with your family and friends, some good news is ahead. A new winter storm is brewing for Christmas weekend, which will add some fresh snowfall to a swath of the country.

MORE: Winter Storm Decima