Earliest snow ever? Not!

The forecasts for tonight and tomorrow are dire, at least for the higher elevations around Binghamton.  We may be joining Colorado and other parts in their early snow marathon-although (I hope) with less snow.

But was this our earliest snow ever?  No!  And in fact, the storm that won that honor (October 3-4, 1987) is one I still remember.  It was our second fall here in the Triple Cities, back when they knew how to make winters.  October 3 and 4 were a Saturday and Sunday.  We weren't getting much snow where we live in the Susquehanna River Valley, so we decided to take matters into our own hands. We took a drive into the nearby Catskill Mountains, all the way to Margaretville, seeing the wet snow accumulate - 20 inches by the time we got to Margaretville.  It was a bit foolhardy but we did make it back.

If you live in snow country, you know that snow before the leaves fall is a very bad thing.  This early snow tends to be wet and heavy, and down come-trees (sometimes onto cars), power lines, you name it. 

After a couple of years of late starting winters, looks like this one is shaping up to be a doozy.  We got our first frost Monday morning (October 12), which used to be a normal thing, but the last two years we didn't get frosts until November in our particular location.  So now....back to normal?