At a Glance

A round of snow will blanket parts of deep south and western Texas and northern Mexico through Friday.While the heaviest snow will fall in the mountains, some accumulations are possible in lower elevations of the high plateau.This Mexican snow will occur before the first accumulating snow of the season in several Northeast and Midwest cities.Snow fell even farther south in a bizarre event in March 2016.

Snow will blanket parts of northern Mexico through Friday, giving areas south of the border thefirst snow of the season before some cities in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast.

This system is now Winter Storm Benji and this article is no longer being updated. For the latest forecast and information.

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Snowfall of 1.9 inches and 1.3 inches has been reported in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, respectfully, but locally heavier totals have occurred in Texas hill country.

Further west, more than six inches of snow was reported near Alpine, Texas on the mountain peaks. Most lower elevations in rural west Texas saw 2-4 inches.

Up to an inch of snow was measured in grassy areas in Brackettville, Texas, about 115 miles west of San Antonio, Thursday morning. Snow was also seen covering grassy areas in Eagle Pass, Texas, along the Rio Grande Valley between Del Rio and Laredo, and in the city of Laredo, which has reported light snow.

Parts of Mexico's border states, including Coahuila, have seen accumulating snow through Thursday afternoon:

Snow will gradually taper off in the Texas Big Bend, but is expected to develop into other parts of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and southern Texasinto early Friday.

Winter Weather Alerts

Incredibly, the has issued a winter storm warning for portions of interior deep south Texas and winter weather advisories for all of deep south Texas including . Up to two inches of snow is expected in interior deep south Texas while the coast can expect a rain and snow mix with accumulations of less than a half of an inch.

Brownsville has only had one day of measurable snowfall on record.

The expected snowfall also prompted the National Weather Service office in , to issue a winter storm warning for the central Texas coast including and for a part of the Rio Grande Valley including the city of .

Winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories are also in effect for parts of westTexas, the western Texas Big Bend and for Texas hill country. Some areas of west Texas could see as much as five inches of snow, and travel could be dangerous in some areas.

This snow may also occur before some northern U.S. cities have seen their first snow of the season.

As of Dec. 6, Detroitand Pittsburgh had yet to record measurable snow this season. All typically do so by mid-November in an average year.

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Wintry Setup

As that happens, a potent jet stream disturbance is now pushing over the region,providinglift and moisture in the atmosphere for precipitation in northern Mexico and West Texas.

Cold air is quickly surging southward into southern Texas and Mexico where rain will slowly change over to snow or a rain/snow mix.

The overall setup for snow in northern Mexico this week, featuring a plunge of the jet stream, providing atmospheric lift and moisture over cold air near the surface.

How Strange is This?

At first glance, the words "Mexico" and "snow" don't appear to go together, but in fact, it's more common than you think.

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Temporary road closure on Durango-Villa Union highway in the village of Llano Grande and Palmito, Wednesday, March 9, 2016, Durango, Mexico.

(Federal Police of Mexico)

In March 2016, an unusually deep plunge of the jet stream wrung out, the first time it had been witnessed there since December 1997.

, one of Mexico's coldest cities, typically sees measurable snow a couple of times each winter, according to Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt.

This happened just a few days after New Year's Day 2013, , andalso occurred during the bizarre .

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Snow is even rarer still in , about 3,000 feet lower in elevation than Chihuahua, and roughly the same latitude as Miami.

However, produced an incredible 20 inches of snow in the city in just eight hours, with some drifts exceeding 3 feet.

In most winters, it's not uncommon to see the surrounding mountains of Mexico City covered in a thin blanket of snowat times.

However, there have been two instances of snow inMexico Cityitself: during the aforementioned January1967 storm, and also on March 5, 1940.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him on and .