No snow early in the season means...

Actually nothing... and here's the reason why. Some of you are very anxious to have some snow because the last two seasons have been duds.

Well take a look at this:

The average first 1" of snow for most of Kansas happens in the month of December. But look back to the winter of 2010-11, the first inch of snow didn't come until January. That season went on to have over 17 inches of snow.

And take Boston, Massachusetts for example. Two winters ago had record low snow into early January, only to go on and have a record 107 inches of snow. We won't be getting 100 inches in Kansas this winter. It's highly unlikely we would even get close to 25", but just because the season gets off to a slow start with snow has no bearing on what comes later in the season.

The destructive California wildfires are driven by the Santa Ana winds (right where I have "stubborn ridge" labeled on the map below. Until we can break that high pressure down on the west coast, our chances for moisture continue to be near zero. 

There isn't much hope of breaking that setup next week. So as tough as it can be, we just have to continue to wait on this to break.

The warm water just off the California coast favors a high pressure system to setup there, which down the stretch isn't good news for Kansas. Our wettest and most productive storm systems come from the southwest, and until we can replace the high pressure in the west, the waiting game continues. 

 Of all places getting snow right now... southwest Texas. Can you believe this? An area that averages less than 5 inches of snow is seeing 3-6 even before Kansas gets 1".