NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
During November, above-average temperatures were observed for much of the Southwest and Central Rockies with below-average precipitation for the Southwest, Great Plains, Southeast, and Northeast. An active storm pattern brought above-average precipitation to the Northwest and Northern Rockies, as well as parts of the Ohio Valley. According to NOAA's National Snow Analysis, at the beginning of November, 8.3 percent of the contiguous U.S. had snow on the ground — the highest elevations in the Rockies, parts of the Central Plains, and northern areas of the Upper Midwest. The monthly snow cover peaked on November 8th, when an upper-level low brought snow to the central Rockies and Great Plains, boosting the snow footprint to 25.8 percent of the contiguous United States. By the end of November, 9.2 percent of the Lower 48 had snow on the ground — the Cascades, northern Rockies, and Sierra Nevada Mountains. Some snow was also on the ground across the northern Upper Midwest and northern New England.
According to NOAA data analyzed by the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, the monthly snow cover extent across the contiguous U.S. was 440,000 square miles, about 31,300 square miles below the 1981-2010 average. This was the 22nd smallest November snow cover extent in the 52-year period of record. During the month, below-average snow cover was observed in the Great Basin, central and southern Rockies, the northern Plains, and parts of the Midwest and Northeast. Above-average snow cover was observed in the Northwest, northern Rockies, parts of the northern Upper Midwest and northern New England. The Alaska snow cover extent during November was 250,000 square miles, slightly above average, with above-average snow cover in southwestern parts of the state and below-average snow cover in far western Alaska.