Well, the weather outside is frightful. Over the weekend, the Michiana area saw its first snow, with lake-effect snow blanketing areas and forcing street crews to plow.

According to the National Weather Service, close to 8 inches was expected to have accumulated as of Monday morning and a lake-effect snow warning was extended to noon today.

“You could see 2 foot of snow possibly (Monday) into Tuesday,” said Courtney Obergfell, meteorologist with the local National Weather Service office in Syracuse, Ind.

Obergfell said the snow should taper off by this afternoon and into the evening.

Nothing out of the ordinary for the region at this time of year, the snow signaled the start of the wintertime routine for city workers in the street department.

“It’s not too bad,” Public Works Director Neil Coulston said Monday morning. “Yes, we’re getting snow and they’re forecasting more, but we’ve got people out there plowing and salting.

“We’ve got everybody in the process of plowing everything in the city today,” he said.

Coulston said there had been few problems to report as of Monday morning thanks to an experienced crew. A total of 10 street department employees and two employees of Silverbrook Cemetery handle keeping Niles’ roads clean and salted during the winter.

The plan of action is, “same old, same old.” Coulston said plows are not plowing local streets over weekends but do focus on keeping main roads clear. During the week, all streets are plowed and salted and in times of heavy snow, he said, officials hope residents would be considerate and move parked vehicles from roadways.

Police do issue warnings and vehicles can be towed if left unmoved.

The first significant snowfall of the season begs the question: What’s in store weather-wise for Michiana in the next few months?

Obergfell said climate predictions over the next three months show “above-normal winter both in temperature and precipitation.”

The reason? A La Nina weather pattern.

The National Weather Service reports: “La Nina episodes in the winter months feature a wave-like jet stream flow across the United States and Canada, which causes colder and stormier than average conditions across the North, and warmer and less stormier conditions to the south. Historically for this part of the Midwest, fall tends to be warmer and drier than normal, and winters tend to be wetter than normal.”

Which means it could be a rainy and sometimes icy start to 2011.