It snowed in Chardon, Ohio yesterday, the heart of the snowbelt, and who can forget the scenes of Pennsylvanians digging out their drives after their first big snow fall of the year yesterday? Well today it was Cleveland's turn to get their first taste of the fluffy white stuff, with some local residents waking up to a coating of fresh white snow on their cars. Closer to the lake and in the city of Cleveland, snowflakes have been spotted falling through the crisp fall air.

Are we in for an early winter? Will we get socked with snow this year? According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, Cleveland falls in the region known as the "Lower Great Lakes", which spans west from Milwaukee, WI and Chicago, IL to Syracuse, NY in the east, and also includes Indianapolis, IN to the south and Detroit, MI to the north. Their prediction for this winter for the Lower Great Lakes region is as follows:

After a mostly mild November, snow at Thanksgiving will signal the coming of a very cold period, especially in the west. Temperatures will seesaw from January through March. Precipitation will generally be below normal, with above-normal snowfall in the southwest and below-normal snowfall in most other parts of the region. The coldest periods will occur in December, early and mid-January, and in early and mid-February. The snowiest periods will be in early and mid-December, early to mid-January, early February, and early March.