Home > Science > Climate Change

People are losing their minds over historic Southern snowstorm

It's snowing in Corpus Christi, Texas, before any snow has fallen in New York City this year.

Nicole Gallucci

on December 8, 2017

People are losing their minds over historic Southern snowstorm

Inches of snow are already blanketing states in the South. Credit: Julio Cortez/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Snow has started to fall in the United States, but not in the places you might expect.

In yet another example of unusual weather this year, the first week of December brought accumulating snow to places like Austin, Texas, Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia — places that rarely ever see several inches of snow, let alone experience a snowstorm before Christmas.

Snow even fell as far south as Corpus Christi, Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico border, where there was at least one instance of "thundersnow" caught on radar.

The snow in the South has actually preceded the first measurable snow in traditionally snowy places, including New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston. This is an extremely rare occurrence.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Confused, surprised, and excited residents of the South have been sharing their views of the snow on Twitter.

For Houston — which had temperatures in the 80s Fahrenheit on Thursday — this first winter snowfall could wind up ranking in the city's top 10 heaviest snowfalls in history. Several inches have fallen throughout the metro area.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

A lightning strike was detected in a band of heavier snow near Corpus Christi on Friday morning, indicating thundersnow, the most elusive of weather phenomena.

Mashable Light Speed

Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories?

By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Thanks for signing up!

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

The conditions were so out of the ordinary that Corpus Christi's National Weather Service (NWS) forecast office felt the need to throw some shade by tweeting at NWS forecast offices in Maine, Illinois, and Iowa — three states that have yet to fully transform into winter wonderlands.

"We think we found something you are missing! Let us know how to return it to you!" Corpus Christi's official NWS Twitter account tweeted alongside a video of snow falling in Texas.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge shared photos of a snow-covered Tiger Stadium, and other residents posted footage showing flurries still falling, with cars, roofs, and streets already blanketed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

And Alabama is getting quite the dusting, too.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Sure the timing of the snow in these areas is premature, but what makes these snowfalls even more bizarre is the fact that cities usually dealing with snow by now have yet to experience it. The Lower 48 states have had very little snow cover so far this winter, with just a quarter of this region counted as snow-covered as of Dec. 8, 2017.

The same storm system bringing snow to the South and Southeast, though, is forecast to intensify as it moves up the East Coast, eventually blanketing areas from Washington, D.C. to Maine in several inches.

So the South may have had a head start, but the Northeast won't have to be jealous for long.

Additional reporting by Science Editor Andrew Freedman.

Nicole Gallucci

Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.