BY P.J. REILLY

and RYAN ROBINSON

Staff Writers

Officially, winter doesn't begin until Dec. 21.

But Lancaster County got a small taste of it Tuesday.

On average, about a half inch of snow coated Lancaster County during a morning snowstorm, according to the National Weather Service.

Higher elevations in the county's northern half saw a little bit more.

"This was basically a nuisance storm," said forecaster Aaron Tyburski. "It was our one shot at winter for the time being — one day."

Tyburski said you can kiss the white stuff "goodbye," because there's a decent warming trend on the way.

"It's going to be pretty mild by the weekend," he said.

The Tuesday morning commute hours started with rain falling.

A few traffic accidents were reported as the rain changed over into the county's first snowfall of the season.

No serious wrecks, and few of any kind, occurred by 8 a.m., a county dispatch supervisor reported.

Rain turned to snow in most areas of the county between 6:30 and 7 a.m., according to Scott Tanguy, PennDOT's county maintenance manager.

All of PennDOT's 52 salt trucks in the county were employed this morning and some rental trucks also were called into duty, Tanguy said.

By 1 p.m., the snow had pretty much turned back to rain, leaving only grassy areas with a white coating.

Roads basically were only wet by then, and there were no weather-related traffic problems reported.

Tyburski said Lancaster County can expect partly sunny skies Wednesday, with high temperatures around 40 degrees.

The sunny conditions should continue through Friday, with daytime highs steadily climbing through the 40s.

Clouds are expected to return by Saturday, with rain possible Sunday.

Highs in the mid 50s are expected by the end of the weekend.