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Snow blanketed a small part of Hawaii's Big Island this week, and while that might seem surprising, it's not as rare as you may think.

Webcams showed a​ winter wonderland in Hawaii on Thursday: Below is an image from a webcam at the top of Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island that shows the snow covering the ground. It's one of several webcams available from the Mauna Kea Weather Center.

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T​he National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory, forecasting up to 5 inches of snowfall and wind gusts up to 35 mph on Mauna Kea.

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A​ so-called Kona storm caused the snowfall this week: This same system brought heavy rain to lower elevations of the islands while also slinging its moisture into the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the Big Island’s pair of 13,000-plus-foot volcanoes.

Because air temperature usually grows colder with higher altitudes, the storm produced snow instead of rain on those peaks.

Snow typically occurs a few times a year on the peaks: Although it snows most often in cooler months between October and April at these highest elevations, it can happen any time of the year. A dusting of snow was observed at Mauna Kea in July 2015.

We’ve even seen blizzard warnings issued for the summits in the past.

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That means all 50 states can see accumulating snow: Since Hawaii's peaks see snow a few times each year, that means Florida is probably the most unusual state for accumulating snow to occur.

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Chris Dolce has been a senior meteorologist with weather.com for over 10 years after beginning his career with The Weather Channel in the early 2000s.