The western states saw their first widespread snow of the season thanks to a combination of cold air and moisture from a southward dip in the jet stream over the region this week. (PHOTOS: ) More than a foot of snow fell in some areas, including northeastern Nevada where 18 inches of snow snapped the branches of fruit trees in Tuscarora on Tuesday. A SNOTEL sensor nine miles east of Jarbridge estimated 32 inches of snow had fallen. A National...

A winter storm is expected to bring the first snowy punch of the season to some parts of the Plains, but not before it had major impacts in the West. Along the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada mountains, as much as a foot and a half of snow fell in western Nevada. This led to school closures, and the heavy, wet snow briefly knocked out power to more than 36,000 customers in northern Nevada, the Associated Press reported. Inclement...

El Niño, the periodic warming of the equatorial eastern Pacific Ocean, can have a number of effects on weather around the world, from heavy rain to extreme drought, persistent warmth to stubborn cold, and inactive versus hyperactive tropical cyclone seasons. (MORE:) Does El Niño also influence how snowy your winter is? To answer that, we examined NOAA seasonal snowfall data for 51 U.S. locations for which sufficient data exists and snowfall is at least typical once a year. The chance...

A southward dip in the jet stream moving across the West will intensify a low pressure system east of the Rockies starting Monday night, resulting in blizzard or near-blizzard conditions for parts of three states. Current Radar (Green shadings are rain while blue shadings depict where snow is falling. Note: Not all rain and snow is shown in the western states since radar beams are blocked by mountains in some locations.) The storm is currently spreading snow through the Rockies,...

Winter Storm Ajax delivered a crippling combination of snow and wind to parts of the High Plains from late Nov. 16 into early Nov. 18. The storm also dumped snow from California's Sierra Nevada into the Rockies Nov. 15-16. The storm dumped more than a foot of snow in some locations with wind gusts topping 60 mph. (MORE:) Long stretches of major interstates were shut down by Ajax, one wreck triggered a jam of at least 100 stranded vehicles, and...

Winter storm watches and warnings are posted in parts of five Midwest states as the first accumulating snow of the season for some in the Upper Midwest, Corn Belt, and Great Lakes will put an exclamation mark on a week of change in the weather pattern. Winter Weather Alerts A swath from northeast Nebraska into much of Iowa and northwest Illinois, is covered by winter storm warnings, as issued by local National Weather Service offices. In the much of the...

(Maps via NOAA) Winter in the United States has gotten off to a slower start this year than it did in late 2014, and the NOAA maps above serve as a reminder of how much snow fell last November. The animated image at the top of this page shows the snow cover in the Lower 48 on Nov. 19, 2014 and the same date a year later. In the 2014 image, a large swath of the northern U.S. was already...

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was last updated on the evening of Nov. 21, 2015. Winter Storm Bella laid down an impressive swath of first-of-the-season snow for many in the Midwest and Great Lakes. (MORE: | | | ) Here are six things to keep in mind about this first major Midwest winter storm of the season. 1. Not Your Typical "Season's First" Snow Any preconceived notions of easing into the snow season should be thrown out with this winter storm....

Here's what the National Weather Service had to say. (Twitter/NWS Fort Worth) As moves into the Plains later this week, there's going to be snow, just not in some areas that are getting in a tizzy on social media. Residents in Fort Worth, Texas, have been sharing an image that appears to be a very snowy forecast for North Texas this weekend. It shows a single run of a forecast model known as the North American Mesoscale Forecast System, or...

A man walks his dog during a snowfall in Beijing on November 22, 2015. (GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images) A fall snowstorm hit China this week, disrupting travel but giving skiers an early-season excuse to hit the slopes. The snow at Beijing Capital International Airport, according to CCTV. Airplanes weren't the only form of travel affected by the snowstorm; 9News.com in Australia reported that got stranded in the wintry precipitation. This led to human gridlock from the masses of people struggling to...

Winter Storm Cara will impact much of the western and central United States through Thanksgiving weekend, spelling trouble for travel and other holiday plans. (MORE: | | | ) Here are six things to keep in mind about this third named winter storm of the season. 1. Large Part of the Country Affected Snowfall Forecast Cara will impact a broader area than recent winter storms Ajax and Bella. Winter Storm Bella brought a narrow, yet heavy swath of snow from...

Winter Storm Bella not only brought the first, not to mention locally heavy, accumulating snow of the season for some in the Great Lakes and Midwest, but also was one of the heaviest November snowstorms of record for some. (MORE:) . A similar setup impacted parts of northern Illinois on Saturday, including some of Chicagoland. Saturday afternoon, a band of heavier snow enhanced by Lake Michigan impacted Chicago, resulting in very low visibility as it pivoted through the area. Despite...

Winter Storm Cara produced ice accumulations from freezing rain over a swath of the central Plains. A textbook combination of Arctic air plunging south and tropical moisture surging north was responsible for the freezing rain across a swath of the southern and central Plains since Thursday, Nov. 26. Some areas saw enough ice to cause major power outages and extremely slick pavement for drivers and pedestrians. (MORE:|) Besides the mess of sleet and freezing rain, . The coldest air mass...