More Snow On The Way For Herndon?

HERNDON, VA -- Fresh off a surprise pre-Thanksgiving snowfall, more may be on the way soon for Herndon -- although it's much too early to get the snow shovel ready.

Fox 5's Mike Thomas tweeted out an extended forecast that noted the impending of arrival of a new system around Dec. 2-3. If the recent cold weather sticks around until then, we could get snow, but he warned that it's just too far out to say for sure.

"Ensembles show another system ... but too early to tell if cold will linger enough for winter precip," he wrote.

DC Times To Watch Next 2 Weeks...

Nov 24: Some AM mountain mix, but mostly a soggy rain maker.

Nov 26-27: Rain for most. Mountain snow on back side. Cold after.

Dec 2-3: Ensembles show another system (below) but too early to tell if cold will linger enough for winter precip. pic.twitter.com/Yi86OQljvK
— Mike Thomas (@MikeTFox5) November 19, 2018

We certainly could have had a risk for some snow in the coming days, if things had aligned better. Temperatures will plunge well below freezing on Thanksgiving, but by the time moisture arrives early next week, those temps will have moved back up.

While it seems like we never get snow before the end of the year these days, the D.C. area actually averages 2.3 inches of snow in December each year (and a half inch in November). That's third behind January and February, which are about even with 5.6 inches and 5.7 inches respectively.

Forecasters have called for snowier winter than usual thanks to El Nino. However, just how snowy will depend on the strength of that El Nino.

Seasonal snow totals can be wildly variable in the D.C. area, as we've seen amounts of between 0.1 and 56.1 inches in our history, according to the Washington Post. On average, the D.C. area sees around 15.4 inches of snow each winter season.

Heavy snow before New Year's has been a thing of the past in recent years. The earliest we had more than 5 inches of snow was back in 1987, when nearly foot fell on Veteran's Day. And you'd have to go all the way back to 1932 for the earliest we got 12 inches of snow, which happened on Dec. 17 that year. As global temperatures continue to warm, forecasters expect snowfall to happen later and later in the season.

(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)