ok so i know this topic has been beaten to death but here's a good article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/17/SPGF0FPFON1.DTL
For those of you who can't read the most important part of the article says: "I think the pattern could change by Thanksgiving weekend," said private meteorologist Mike Pechner, who supplies forecasts for KCBS (740 AM), among other disparate clients. "The long-range forecast calls for a major storm later that weekend. And December appears to be very active with above-normal snowfall. ... Most resorts will be open by mid-December and I think (skiing and snowboarding) conditions will be excellent for the Christmas-New Year holiday week."
Bill Martin, the meteorologist at KTVU (Channel 2), concurs somewhat.
"There's a lot of energy out there in the Pacific ... and if the jet stream cooperates and we get it (a storm) in December, it could have all the earmarks of a February storm (cold and very wet)," he said.