Brittany Westerberg

SDSU and Brookings saw their first few flakes of snow on the morning of Nov. 5.

Classified as a “trace” of snow, the warm soil temperatures kept any of it from accumulating, according to State Climatologist Dennis Todey. Much of the frozen precipitation simply sublimated-or changed from a solid to a gas without becoming a liquid-because of the dry air.

Only areas in the Black Hills have seen any measured snowfall so far, though this is the time of year when people can begin to expect to see snow. Most years one would expect to see one-tenth of an inch of snow occurring by Nov. 10.

Typically, Todey said, they do not expect to see much snow on the ground for extended periods in November. The average for the month is about three to four days of snow on the ground over the last 110 years.

There is not much precipitation expected for this week. No major systems are crossing the area, according to Todey, and there’s too little moisture available to produce anything. The next chance for any precipitation could be late in the weekend or early next week.

Todey keeps an online blog to keep people updated with the climate and weather. To access it, go to http://climate.sdstate.edu/climate_site/climate.htm.