Summer snow? US town gets winter preview weeks before fall begins
Autumn doesn't begin until 9:03 p.m. EDT on Sept. 22, but some areas of the western U.S. have already skipped right ahead to winter -- at least that's what it looked like on Friday morning.
Ellery Georger was just 4 months old when she was introduced to snowboarding by her parents. Now 3, she is obsessed with the sport, watching competitions on television all day long.
School is back in session, a new season of the NFL has just kicked off and pumpkin spice lattes are being served up across the country, all signs that fall is almost here. But on Friday morning, some corners of the contiguous United States received their first taste of winter.
Snow fell across parts of Wyoming late Thursday night and early Friday morning -- the first snow of the season in Wyoming, according to the National Weather Service office in Riverton, Wyoming.
And it was just more than a few flurries.
The road at Powder River Pass in northern Wyoming was almost completely covered by accumulating snow. The pass is located in the Bighorn Mountains, in the north-central part of the state, and climbs up to an elevation of 9,666 feet.
Snowfall across the area was still visible on AccuWeather radar well into mid-morning on Friday, but it was mixing with rain in some spots.
Snowflakes were also reported at a weather station in South Pass, Wyoming, located in west-central Wyoming at an elevation of 8,491 feet. At one point, the visibility dipped below half a mile.
Temperatures in the snowy areas dipped down into the lower 40s F early Friday morning with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures in the 30s F. In Atlantic City, Wyoming, located near Powder River Pass, the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature was 34 F, while the more famous beach town of Atlantic City, New Jersey, was more summerlike with an AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature of 79 F.
The wintry preview was not just limited to Wyoming.
Visitors who woke up early to drive up the top of the popular Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park didn't see any sunshine. Instead, they were greeted by a foggy, snowy morning.
Some of the vehicles that had been parked at the Logan Pass Visitor Center at 6,646 feet ended up covered in snow.
Visitors in Glacier National Park found themselves in a winter wonderland on Friday morning at Logan Pass. (NPS)
Accumulating snow is not completely unheard of in the northern Rockies in September and serves as a reminder that cold and snowy winter weather is right around the corner.
AccuWeather long-range forecasters are predicting that some widespread snow is possible ahead of the start of meteorological winter, which starts on Dec. 1. AccuWeather's official U.S. winter forecast is set to be released on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
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