Early snowfall set records, but global warming supporters still have a story to tell

Citizens in South Dakota enjoyed life in shorts and sandals on Monday, while temperatures were in the 80s, but Thursday the snow and cold brought out the winter gear. A cold front swept across from the north and temps dropped quickly into the 20s and snow covered the hills.

Global warming supporters were quick to report how this is normal as record setting snow blanketed parts of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, northern Colorado and western Nebraska, downing trees 11 days before summer officially ends.

“Even though it is on the early side, snow in September is not unusual for many of the locations which saw it,” says NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins. “What was unusual was how widespread it was. Snow was reported in six states over the past three days, including Nebraska.”

“September is a transition month,” Alex Calderon, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Rapid City, tells NBC News. So while the snow was “definitely unusual” this early in September, but noted that it has happened before and especially in the hills.

Check the record books and the previous earliest measurable snowfall for Rapid City, elevation 3,200 feet, was on Sept. 13, 1970, when just under an inch fell.

Yep, climate change has occurred again and nearly 44 years to the day, we have snow in the north.

I think Montana might have skipped a season. We have video of an early September snow in Bozeman. On Bit: WE-010TH – tweeted CNN News with the photo below. (@CNNNewsource)

Weather.com’s graphic illustrates that this wasn’t a small flurry, like the “one inch in 1940” – check out the photo below.

In fact, in parts of northern Wyoming, where up to 18 inches was estimated by a SNOTEL station in the Bighorn Mountains southwest of Sheridan. Broken branches, downed trees and power outages littered streets in the city of Buffalo, Wyoming, where 7-8 inches of snow fell.

Weather.com graphic snowfall in September 2014