Yesterday was the first big cold front of the season and the blustery winds created a chill in the air for the trick or treater’s. There were even snowflakes around the state for the first time this season, which is making many concerned that this winter will be as bad as last year with the early snowflakes.

First of all, the average first flurry in Milwaukee occurs on October 28…tomorrow, so it is not early. The average first date for our first accumulating snow is November 14. Last year’s first flurry was November 15 and our first accumulating snow was November 21 with 1.2”. The snow was a little late last year and we ended up with 99 to 130”.

October snow is rare, but we average 0.4” due to 2 big snows in the past 100 years…otherwise we rarely see snow in October. The only time it snowed in October in the past 5 years was in 2006. That year it snowed 4 times, the earliest was Oct. 11, but there was only 0.1” of snow for the month. Despite an early snowfall, the winter of 2006-07 ended up with 51”…the normal for Milwaukee . That November had no snow and if it is was not for the 23.7” of snow in February, it would have been a very dry winter.

So yesterday's flakes have no indication on how severe our winter will be.