We may be at least several weeks — maybe even a couple of months — away from statewide snow cover in Minnesota, but in Siberia, winter is already off and running.

What happens in Siberia doesn’t stay in Siberia. This is the origin of some of our coldest winter air in the Northern Hemisphere. That means we watch carefully what develops every autumn and early winter in this region for clues to our upcoming winter.

More snow, early, means more cold air. That’s because up to 90 percent of incoming solar radiation is reflected back to space with fresh snow. Even dirty snow reflects back up to half of incoming sunlight.

Every season, this helps to create the “Siberian High,” a large area of surface high pressure due to the cold, dense air that develops seasonally. Given the right conditions,

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