NORWICH - After an unusually mild beginning, November offered local residents a snowy reminder that winter is coming, with many schools closing and up to eight inches of snow reported in Northern Chenango County.

The Thursday night and early Friday morning storm ended a stretch of November weather that had run about 10 degrees warmer than normal. The snow closed eight area schools and delayed three others by two hours. It also caused dozens of reported motor vehicle accidents.

Rain changed to heavy, wet snow Thursday evening and kept falling into Friday morning, with the heaviest being reports of eight inches of accumulation in Sherburne, North Norwich and nearby areas. The snow weighed down trees and power lines, cut electricity to roughly one in eight NYSEG customers and closed or delayed schools.

The National Weather Service in Binghamton said the storm was “a brief taste of winter.”

Its winter weather advisory for Chenango and Delaware counties ran until 1 p.m. Friday. Forecasters warned of slippery roads and up to 2 more inches of snow and tied the power outages to the weight of snow on trees.

Light snow was still falling in Norwich at 8:35 a.m. Friday, with the temperature at 32 degrees.

It was the first measurable snow of the season in the local area. The weather service said in a normal year, 2.6 inches would have fallen in our area by now.

It was 71 degrees on Nov. 4, two degrees shy of the record for that day.

Reports collected by the weather service in Binghamton said northern Chenango County received 8 inches in Sherburne area late Thursday and 8 inches in North Norwich by Friday morning.

Other reports included 4.2 inches near Plymouth early Thursday evening and 4 inches just southeast of Greene on Friday morning.

Otsego County fared worse, reports there reached 12.5 inches near Hartwick and 10 inches in Cherry Valley. The Binghamton airport measured 2.5 inches by 6:55 a.m. Friday.

The weight of the snow showed cause power outages and as of 8:35 a.m. Friday, NYSEG was reporting 2,844 of its 23,225 Chenango County customers were without power.

The outages were concentrated in the towns in the north of the county and at upper elevations.

In Plymouth, 725 of 929 residents were without power. In the town of Smyrna 493 of 569, were without power and100 in the village of Smyrna. New Berlin had 389 customers out, Columbus had 298, North Norwich 251, Sherburne 140 and Preston had 138 residents without power.

Rural parts of Norwich had only two dozen reported outages, and none were reported by NYSEG in the City of Norwich, Greene, Bainbridge, Afton or Coventry.

There is not current travel advisory or emergency notice issue Friday morning by local officials

Friday’s snow fall should fade by afternoon, but the service reported the weekend will be cold with snow showers possible on Saturday and Sunday

Norwich’s forecasted highs may return by midweek. The service said temperatures on Tuesday could reach 53 degrees and 56 on Thursday, with sunshine expected next week.