It was an early winter wonderland, as snowflakes swirled across campus Tuesday night.
Well, sort of.
Columbia saw a mild but unmistakable snowfall Tuesday, a result of a cold front making its way up the east coast.
National Weather Service meteorologist Whitney Smith said Columbia had not seen snow on Nov. 12 but two times in the last 124 years. Tuesday makes the third snowfall ever recorded at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport on this date.
According to Smith, there is a 0.016 percent chance of having measurable snowfall in November at the Columbia Metro Airport, the greatest November snowfall ever recorded was 3.3 inches, which fell in the winter of 1901-1902.
“The most we’ve seen is a half inch in Chesterfield and a half inch in Lancaster,” Smith said. “Our northern counties have had the most, and most of that was on elevated surfaces.”
This unusual cold front will be followed by lower temperatures over the next few days. Wednesday will see low temperatures in the 30s in the morning and a high in the 40s. Thursday’s temperatures will dip even lower, bottoming out in the mid-to-high 20s.
As far as any more snow this season, Smith said it’s difficult to predict at this stage of the game.
“Our expertise is within the first seven days of the forecast,” she said.
But the minuscule snowfall didn’t stop some students from partaking in a late-night frolic on Greene Street.
“I never expected snow in Columbia,” second-year international business student Matt Calcagno said as he pranced around with his fellow snow-lovers. “It’s like Christmas came early, and it’s not even December.”