As of Friday afternoon, at least 70 percent of the United States had snow onthe ground. Such widespread snow cover rarely occurs and takes a unique set ofcircumstances. The requirements are persistent cold and plenty of storms, andthose conditions have existed since late January.If you remember back to the middle of January, much of the country was enjoyinga nice January thaw, but all that mild air got completely demolished by thesweeping pattern change.

In time, the sun will reign and the snow will be gone, but for at least thenext couple of weeks, winter is still king.

Story By AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.