INDIANAPOLIS — The first snow of the season came while there are still fall leaves on the trees and pumpkins dotting doorsteps. Does this November snow seem a little early?
Nailah Rowan, an Indianapolis resident, shared her opinion while she was running errands in the snow.
"I didn't know this much was coming," Rowan admitted. "You're used to it, so you just pull out your stuff and keep going."
Rowan wasn't upset about the snow, since she said the roads were salted for her commute.
"It's still beautiful," Rowan continued about the snow. "I'm glad that it's not sticking, and that my kid's school wasn't delayed, so I'm not mad about it."
While in downtown Indy, visitors from Melbourne, Australia, and Los Angeles were excited to be out strolling in the snow.
"It's actually pretty amazing," said Yessica Gomez, visiting from Los Angeles. "We don't get snow at all."
Gomez said she had prepared for the cold on her visit, but wasn't expecting the snow, and she had to buy some winter gear (including a new hat) for her time in Indiana.
Was this snow actually early?
Typically, we see our first trace amount of snow in Indianapolis on November 2. A trace amount of snow means you can see it on the ground, but there is not enough snow to measure.
Our first measurable snow (anything greater than 0.1") typically happens on November 24.
A snowfall of more than an inch usually doesn't happen until December 8 of each year.
The official snow total (measured at the Indianapolis Airport) for Sunday was 0.5" and 1.3" for Monday (which set a new daily snow record for November 10).
So yes, this week's snow was a little early compared to normal.
We won't set any records for early snowfall. The earliest trace amount of snow for the season happened on October 9, 1925. The earliest measurable snow occurred in Indianapolis on October 18, 1989.
A normal month of November should see around 0.8" of snow, and we are on track to reach this with Sunday and Monday's snow.
"Life in Indy, yeah, nothing new," Rowan said with a smile about this recent round of snow.
