An interesting side note to all this is that there is a huge mass of really cold air up in Canada right now (-40s and -50s F.). It's not the first cold air mass this season, but it is the coldest one so far (not unexpected, since it's early January). However, I've been watching each of these cold air masses as they cross Canada from west to east, and none of them are really bulging down into the USA. It's almost like they stop at the border and keep moving east. This is due to a significant blocking high pressure out in the Atlantic that extends into the US that continues to keep all this cold air at bay. By now, in a normal year, we would have had one or two significant cold snaps, often near or below zero, out here in Ohio.
As for our snow out here, we have had a dusting and a half-inch snow event so far this season, both of which melted pretty quickly. That is unusual for this time of year. Normally it snows anytime starting the beginning of December or later, and then, with each ensuing snowstorm, the snow on the ground doesn't really melt until spring (or briefly for a January thaw, only to do it all over again a week or two later, and *then* melt in spring).
For a great map of the current snow depth in the U.S., click here.CaT
