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Some Already Tired Of Snow, But Experts Advise Getting Used To It

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Thursday marked only the second snowfall of the season, and winter has not yet even officially arrived.

As CBS2's Vanessa Murdock reported, some people said they enjoyed the scenery with the snow. But others had already had enough.

Tue sun made a return on Thursday afternoon following the cloudy, snowy morning.

Even though the sun came out, it remained brisk and cold outside with a high around 36.

The morning snow came courtesy of a quick-moving clipper that covered the Tri-State Area in a beautiful blanket of white. This past weekend, there was a whopper that glided up the eastern seaboard dumping record snow for some.

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In Smithtown, a car skidded off East Main Street overnight, crashed into another vehicle and then slammed into a building.

Two women were hurt, one seriously.

Meanwhile, a bus driver got stuck on a snowy hill in New Rochelle.

As to the aesthetics, New Yorkers were split.

"I love it," said Donna Bergin of Pelham. "I think it's pretty."

"Too soon for me," said Jacqueline Tolbert of Mount Vernon. "I'd rather have it in January."

"I'm done. Finished. I am finished," said Todd Zuzulo of Pelham. "Can't stand the snow. Don't like winter."

"I'm OK," said Mauem Lopes of Pelham Manor. "I'm not saying I'm happy, but I'm OK."

"It has yet to become a nuisance," said Alec Safy of Van Nest, the Bronx.

And while meteorological winter has begun, the countdown to winter on the calendar is still on. While it might seem that this December is one for the record books, it's not really -- not yet anyway.

Many remember December 2016 as mild. But by the numbers, Central Park recorded 3.2 inches of snow and average temperature of 38 degrees.

So far this month, the average temperature is 41 with 5.8 inches of snowfall -- one inch above the norm.

Still, you might be wondering if back-to-back snows signal a rough winter on the way. CBS2's Murdock spoke spoke with forecasters Marco Tedesco of the Lamont Dougherty Earth Observatory and Judah Cohen, director of seasonal forecasting for Atmospheric and Environmental Research.

Both were in agreement.

"The winter that we're going to have is going to be, at least in the short term, very cold," Tedesco said.

"My own gut instinct – it seems like if it snows before December 21, there's usually a sign maybe it's going to be a snowy winter," Cohen said.

Cohen said it all hinges on the weakening of the polar vortex, that big mass of frigid air that sits up near the North Pole. Weakening means cold air can spill into the Northeast.

"When you get this disruption of the polar vortex, it not only increases probability of a cold winter, it also increases the probability of getting a snowy winter -- at least that's true in northeast U.S.," he said.

The next weakening of the polar vortex is expected next week, leading up to Christmas and increasing our odds of white one.

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