The dead of winter already?

[cgstorm5]

Certainly feels like it! Currently around noon only 15 deg. with flurries. This has got to be the coldest early winter in a decade and the most persistent snows since Dec. 2001. Where's the warm winter everyone was predicting for us? Everybody here is feeling gloomy since most have gotten used to Indian summers and very little snow the past 4 yrs. Heck, all the local mets still feel a brown X-mas is likely due to another ridge building behind the record cold outbreak in the East. Not even the skiers are happy since it's too dry and more of a dusting compared to what east SD got. Last year was the all-time lowest snowpack for the Black Hills which then led to the hottest summer since 1988.

I've seen similarities to '88 here with lowest water levels and prolonged fire danger. Then, after the Great Yellowstone Fire finally burnt out due to early snow storms from the Pacific we got blasted by some horrible blizzards. Turned out the next four years was the wettest since the 1960s. Well, I hope that's what happened and never see that Great Basin Ridge block CO lows from forming again.

My question is could this early chill lead to a violent, prolonged winter with temps in subzeros and wind chills -40? Not since winter 1991 I recall it got that frigid. I mean will the Siberian Express continue this strong with the Aleutian low spinning out a series of storms or will the pattern flip-flop? I'm rootin for a bad winter but how the hell will we pay our heating bills come next month? The government better have a plan to get through this crisis.