Technically, it's still fall in the U.S., but don't tell that to the Lower 48. According to new observations from NOAA's Snow Analyses, more than 50 percent of the contiguous U.S. was covered with snow this morning.

The 50 percent mark is the greatest such snow cover total in the contiguous U.S. this early in the year since NOAA's Snow Analyses started tracking countrywide snow cover in 2003. For comparison's sake, and as the animation above shows, at this time last year only 12.5 percent of the U.S. was covered in snow.

On November 9, only a little more than 3 percent of the U.S. --- portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Michigan, to be exact -- was covered in snow. But now, after some serious lake effect snow in the Great Lakes, Winter Storm Astro and Winter Storm Bozeman, it's beginning to look a lot like winter, even as far south as Dallas, Texas.

If you still needed convincing, just ask the folks in Montreal, Wisconsin. As weather.com senior meteorologist Jon Erdman details,the northern Wisconsin town picked up more than 50 inches of snow in just four days due to a combination of snow from Winter Storm Astro and a lake effect snow event.

Just for kicks, here are a few more animations that show just how much today's snow cover stands out historically:

Snow Cover on November 17, Since 2003

The animation above shows snow cover on November 17 since 2003, when NOAA started tracking the figure. In the 10 years prior, the average national snow cover on this date was just 12.94 inches. The next highest snow cover total this early in the season was just 31.5 percent on November 12, 2012, nearly 20 percent less, most of which was centered around the north-central U.S. and Rockies.

Winter Storm Bozeman certainly contributed to the 50 percent figure. Though Bozeman's top snow total was just over 32 inches in high elevation areas of Wyoming, the storm blanketed a large portion of the U.S., from Oregon to the Northeast, in snow. The animation above shows the increased distribution in snow across the U.S. since Bozeman kicked off in Oregon on November 13, 2014.

But Bozeman only continued a trend started by Winter Storm Astro, which unlike Bozeman, dumped much more significant snow totals, especially to the north-central U.S. When Astro started on November 9, 2014, the Lower 48 still looked very much like fall: only 3.7 percent of the U.S. was covered by snow.

In fact, before Winter Storm Astro, the next highest snow coverage total was just 8.1 percent on November 3, 2014.

And though NOAA forecasts that the snow coverage totals are going to drop across the country as snow further south melts, a big lake effect snow event, forecast to dump more than a foot in some places, has already begun in the Great Lakes, meaning winter-like weather during fall isn't going away anytime soon.

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