MIKE MOSS SAYS:        Tom,      Thanks for the kind words. Snowfall tends to be quite variable in our part of the country, both from place to place within the region, and also from year to year, with occasional cycles of greater and lesser amounts that seem to be superimposed on somewhat more random variation. To use the Raleigh-Durham airport as an example, there actually was a little snow this year, with a whopping half-inch in January!

As for winters with no measurable snow at all, the last one at RDU was the winter ending 2006, and before that the winters ending 1999, 1992 and 1991. Before that, you have to go back to 1957 for a snow-free winter at RDU, with 1953 and 1950 also coming up zeros. In addition, snowfall totaled less than an inch in the winters ending 1975, 1986 and 2005. So, a snow-free winter isn't the usual situation in our area, but is far from unheard of.