Too Cold To Snow? Not Exactly.

You may have heard the colloquial expression "It's too cold to snow." Yesterday's radar image was nearly empty, and the temperature map would seem to confirm that myth:

Every state in the nation recorded a low temperature below freezing (32 F), and only three (California, Florida & Georgia) reported any in the 40s.

More accurately, the saying should read "The pressure's too high to snow." When your location is at its coldest, you're generally under a strong high pressure system, which keeps storms away from you. This was the case yesterday, as the nation was controlled by two high pressure systems which brought air so cold that Oklahoma set a new state record and was colder than the South Pole.

This doesn't apply, of course, in lake-effect areas, where only the lake itself, wind, and cold air are required to generate lake-effect snow. Over a foot fell near Oswego, New York yesterday.