The Autumn Equinox occured on September 22, at 8:43 a.m. EDT (or 5:43 a.m. PDT), which most people consider the first day of autumn. It’s time for falling leaves, pumpkin spice drinks, football and cozy sweaters, so when can you expect the first snow of the season?

The Autumn Equinox happens every year when the sun is directly overhead of the Equator as the Earth’s tilt begins to point the northern hemisphere away from the sun. Day and night will be approximately equal in length today. The sun will then start rising later now and nightfall will come sooner. The opposite occurs in the southern hemisphere, where their days will start getting longer and it will be getting warmer.

As the earth revolves around the sun, at different times of year, the sun will be situated directly overhead at midday within the tropics. The Autumnal and Spring Equinox occur when the sun is highest in the sky at noon over the equator. The day the sun is straight up at noon over the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn (23.5 degrees North and South latitude) are the summer and winter solstices, respectively.

Now that days will be getting shorter and temperatures will be colder, when will there be snow? Here are when some cities on average get their first snowfall:

City	Average Date of First Snowfall (>Trace)	Average Date of First Snowfall (>1”)
Spokane, Wash.	November 10	November 17
Billings, Mont.	October 17	October 22
Salt Lake City	November 7	November 19
Denver	October 15	October 17
Flagstaff, Ariz.	November 15	November 26
Albuquerque, N.M.	November 26	December 21
Bismarck, N.D.	October 28	November 11
Omaha, Neb.	November 16	November 23
Kansas City, Mo.	November 28	December 13
Oklahoma City	December 14	December 28
Amarillo, Texas	November 21	December 2
Minneapolis	November 5	November 20
St. Louis	December 2	December 16
Milwaukee	November 13	December 1
Chicago	November 17	December 6
Detroit	November 18	December 3
Indianapolis	November 23	December 7
Lexington, Ky.	December 7	January 1
Nashville, Tenn.	December 27	January 23
Cleveland	November 10	November 26
Philadelphia	December 19	December 31
Baltimore	December 15	December 30
Washington, D.C.	December 21	January 1
Charleston, W. Va.	November 27	December 11
Richmond, Va.	December 30	January 10
New York City	December 12	December 22
Boston	November 28	December 13
Caribou, Maine	October 28	November 7

Forecast trends show the potential for some snow in the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains starting early October, while the rest of the northern tier could see some snowflakes by the end of October. Stay tuned to WeatherBug to see if any snow occurs before their average dates!

Source: NWS
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Story Image: Yosemite by David Mark via Pixabay

When Can You Expect The First Snow?