Four Weird Things We’ve Seen During This November Cold Snap

In the first 12 days of November, temperatures from the Plains and Midwest into parts of the South have been colder than average overall, according to data from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. The coldest areas relative to average have been in the north-central states.

Here are a few odd things we've seen in this unusually chilly start to the month.

1. Record Early Snowfall

Houston reported its earliest snowfall on record Tuesday morning as a brief bout of wintry precipitation moved over the metro area.

Although there wasn't any accumulation, it was enough for the city to crush its previous record for earliest first flakes from Nov. 23, 1979.

Sleet even mixed with rain Tuesday morning near the Mexico border in McAllen, Texas, though no official record was broken. Shreveport, Louisiana, also recorded a trace of snowfall Tuesday.

A day later, Monroe, Louisiana, had its earliest accumulating snow on record as Winter Storm Avery began to develop over the South.

The previous record for the earliest measurable snow in Monroe – defined as 0.1 inches or greater – was Nov. 24, 1950, according to the National Weather Service in Shreveport.

2. One of Coldest Starts to November

The persistence and magnitude of the chilly temperatures have placed the first 13 days of the month among the coldest on record for that period of time in the nation's midsection.

3. Coldest So Early in the Season or in Years

San Antonio saw its low temperature plummet to a shivering 23 degrees Wednesday morning, crushing the previous daily record for Nov. 14 of 28 degrees.

Not only that, it was the coldest temperature ever recorded in San Antonio so early in the season.

Farther north, Minneapolis/St. Paul had its first single-digit low temperature in the month of November in almost four years on Tuesday morning (7 degrees). The last time the Twin Cities had a single digit low in November was Nov. 30, 2014.

Kansas City's low temperature of 9 degrees Saturday morning was the coldest November temperature there since Nov. 18, 2014 (6 degrees).

4. Lake-Effect Snow in Missouri

Lake-effect snow is most commonly found in the Great Lakes, but occasionally it can develop on smaller lakes when the air is sufficiently cold and the wind direction is favorable.

On Tuesday morning, cold air flowing over the relatively warmer waters of Missouri's Table Rock Lake and Lake of the Ozarks allowed small bands of lake-effect snow to develop.

Although lake-effect snow is not unheard of on smaller bodies of water like these, it's not something we'd usually look for in the first half of November.

Mid-winter is a more typical time of year to watch for smaller lakes producing localized lake-effect snow since arctic air masses are at their coldest. That's especially the case for lakes farther to the south in the Lower 48, including Missouri.