Someday in future years, people will look out their windows at the first big November snowfall and instead of dread, they’ll feel relief. TV weather forecasters will celebrate snow the way they now celebrate predicted days of relentless sunshine.

And some people will see the dollar signs nestled in the snowflakes of November snows, because they understand the link between a healthy snowpack and a healthy economic climate.

In the Inland Northwest, the region’s rivers and lakes recharge when the snowpacks melt in spring. The Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to nearly 500,000 people, is fed by these snowpacks, too. Wise and sustainable growth in the region depends on the ability to provide drinking water to folks who settle here and build their families and businesses.

A healthy snowpack also fuels the dams that power the region’s still relatively inexpensive hydroelectric energy. And November snow means early openings for ski resorts, also a major economic force in the Inland Northwest.

Snowy Novembers defy some of the Earth’s disturbing climate trends. Reuters reported last week that 2007 is on its way to becoming the sixth warmest year since record keeping began 150 years ago. In Europe, economic development groups worry about losing many of the 80 million tourists drawn to Alpine ski resorts there. Already, Europe’s ski seasons are shorter, and some ski resorts have closed forever.

Closer to home, the National Climatic Data Center last week said 2007 is likely to go down in Northern Hemisphere history as the warmest since record keeping began more than a century ago.

Rain is easier in November, yes. Less driving hassle. Less shoveling. But rainy Novembers help little. Fire season is usually long gone. The rainwater can’t be easily stored. And November rain contributes nothing to the snowpack.

Children, skiers and snowboarders always take delight in the season’s first snowfall. For them, the earlier the snow falls, the better. Maybe they have been our prophets all along, and we should follow their heed: Let it snow.