Snowless mountains.

It's pretty shocking to be at 5,000 feet in elevations in the mountains of western Idaho and find no snow on the ground in the last days in November. It's also shocking that they are probably going to look the same during the first days of December.

We were up in the mountains around Council Friday cutting our yule tree. The forest roads are frozen but snowless. I remember past holidays when we'd be in knee-deep snow looking for a trees. In fact, we'd have to park at the bottom of the hill and hike or cross-country ski in to get a tree. Not this year.

The lack of snow is startling. You may find 0 to 1 inch of snow at 5,000 feet in elevation, depending on the area. We were around 5,000 feet and there was no snow.

There is snow in the high country in some areas. Trinity Mountain has about 13 inches at 7,770 feet, but Jackson Peak has 7 inches at 7,070 feet. The Trinities always catch the moisture and have snow.

There's a chance of showers today at Bogus Basin. That's good. At least the moisture will prepare the ground for snow. Other than that, it doesn't look like there's a chance of snow at Bogus until Wednesday - a 20-percent chance.

Let's hope for any snow we can get.