First Snow of the Season!

Early in the day on Sunday, a keen-eyed GSD staff member witnessed the first snow of the season in Williamstown. Technically, it was the first graupel of the season, but graupel is a type of snow, so it qualifies.

What, you are wondering, is graupel?

Take away the artificial coloring and you've got yourself some graupel.

If you've ever had the pleasure of eating Dippin' Dots, then you know exactly what graupel is. Or, if you've ever seen the innards of a bean bag chair, then you know what graupel is.

Graupel is a snowflake with water droplets frozen to it. It looks a lot like soft hail. That's the kind of snow that fell in Williamstown on Sunday. Despite the temperatures in the upper 30s, the graupel briefly began to accumulate on grassy surfaces before the sun came back out and melted the graupel away.

Those hoping that the flurries today might mean a bigger snowstorm is right around the corner? You are flat out of luck. Temps will moderate over the next few days and we'll see more seasonably appropriate thermometer readings in the 50s and low 60s for the next ten days or so.

We'll certainly keep you updated when the first threat of measurable snow works its way into the forecast.

Chance of Snow This Week

Hello, Flake Followers. We're back! There aren't any storms in the forecast, but our weekly perusal of the long-range forecast turned up this curious little item. Take a gander:

We draw your attention to that purple section at the bottom. What it means is that right now we have a better than 50% chance of seeing our first flakes of the season late Saturday night. Yes!

We're not super optimistic that we'll see snow showers at that time--and most of us will be snug in our beds when and if the showers come through--but the fact that we're even writing these sentences means that the measurable, snow day-inducing storms of the 2015-16 Winter Season are not so far around the corner. Rejoice, rejoice.

Until we meet again...