November 3, 1966: Louisville Wakes Up Under 13 Inches as a Freak Early Snowstorm Whitens Alabama to Michigan

On the morning of November 3, 1966, folks across the Ohio Valley woke up to a sight nobody expected so early in the fall. A storm that formed over the northern Gulf of Mexico on November 1 raced north on the 2nd, strengthening fast, and when the snow finally quit in the early hours of the 3rd, Louisville, Kentucky, had piled up 13.1 inches.

That was by far the biggest November snowstorm in Louisville's history, and it still ranks among the city's five biggest snows ever. The strange part: the temperature never dropped to freezing. It hovered at 33 to 34 degrees the whole time, so the snow was wet, heavy and sticky. With leaves still on the trees, branches snapped under the weight and pulled down power lines all over town. South of the city, Cecilia, Kentucky, reported about 20 inches.

The National Weather Service says the storm whitened the ground from Alabama to Michigan. Nashville picked up 7.2 inches, Huntsville got 4 inches, and Cincinnati about 8. Even Mobile, Alabama, on the Gulf Coast, saw its earliest snowflakes on record. Farther north, Toledo measured 9.5 inches and Alpena, Michigan, 11.3.

Then, just as fast as it came, it was gone. Within a few days the snow had melted and temperatures bounced back into the 60s and even the 70s, as if nothing had happened.

Sam's Take: Thirteen inches of snow with the leaves still on the trees? That's nature serving dessert before dinner. I'd have been buried up to my SIS helmet, digging tunnels to my acorn stash. Here in Colorado we call that a Tuesday, but in Mobile? Somebody surely ran outside in flip-flops to catch a flake.