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Weather Underground midday recap for Saturday, December 05, 2009.

The first real shot of winter struck the Northeast on Saturday as a storm developed off the Carolina coast and began to make its way north along the Eastern Seaboard. Widespread snow was reported throughout the Appalachians in the morning, with rain along the coast, but at temperatures fell throughout the day many locations saw that rain change over to snow by the late afternoon. Accumulating snow was mostly limited to grassy surfaces due to temperatures just hovering around freezing. In higher elevation areas, such as northern New Jersey and portions of Central Pennsylvania temperatures were much colder and moderate snow accumulation was reported. To the north, in New England, temperatures were warmer as winds off the relatively warm Atlantic Ocean transported heat ashore. With the warmer weather came rain along the coast, with some wet snow in the highest elevations. The winds were expected to switch around to the West overnight dropping temperatures substantially.

Cloud cover from the eastern storm, tapered off west of the Appalachians, and clear skies were prominent over the Plains. Some high clouds were noted streaming off the Rockies in the Western Plains, but throughout the nation's mid-section Precipitation was mostly absent. The Northern Rockies saw same light snow and some cloud cover.

The West Coast states stayed clear throughout the day on Saturday, with only a few clouds overhead. Southern California saw a few areas of fog at the coast, mostly limited to the beaches and a couple miles inland.

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Saturday have ranged from a morning low of -9 degrees at Kremmling, Colo. to a midday high of 82 degrees at Kendall, Fla.