Snow Before the Middle of October

It's snowing out right now. There were a few random snow pellets coming down yesterday, but over the noon hour today it's been the real thing. It is snowing.

Snowing here in Iowa on the twelfth of October! I wish I could say there's not going to be any accumulation, but looking out the window I see tracings of white building amidst the grass and the fallen leaves.

I don't expect this snow will add up to much, and it probably won't last long— forecast is for an accumulation of "less than half an inch"— but still... Snow before the middle of October?!