PENDLETON — Friday marked the first day of fall, but some areas of Eastern Oregon are skipping ahead a season and displaying some early signs of the winter to come.

On Wednesday, Oregon State Police responded to a wreck involving a 77-year-old man who crashed his car into a guard rail and median while driving westbound on Interstate 84 between Meacham and La Grande after it started snowing.

Two nearby ski resorts — Bluewood and Anthony Lakes — posted pictures of the first snow of the season on their Facebook pages Tuesday.

Despite these early signs, there are only a few official indications of September snow.

Zaaron Allen, a science and operations officer with the National Weather Service in Pendleton, said the service received a report from Wallowa County on Wednesday of one inch of snow at 4,000-foot elevation.

Some snowfall did appear on the service’s cameras in Tollgate, Allen said.

Although it was the first he was hearing of the accident on I-84, he wasn’t surprised.

“It doesn’t take a foot of snow to wreak havoc,” he said.

It also might be premature to try to read the tea leaves in the late summer snowfall.

Although a La Niña effect in the Pacific Ocean led to an especially heavy winter for the Northwest, Allen said there hasn’t been any strong indications on how strong the 2017-2018 winter will be.