Snow reaching the ground with temperatures near the surface in the upper 30s to lower 40s oF is not too uncommon. Snow at even warmer temperatures has been observed. Such an event can seem a little strange when you stand outside with snow falling and the air just doesn't feel cold enough. Some of the reasons why snow can reach the ground at warm temperatures are less obvious than others. The following is a list of contributing factors.
Sublimation, melting, and evaporation are all cooling mechanisms where water takes heat from the air to change from a lower energy state to a higher energy state. Sublimation is a term not commonly used in layman discussions of weather but is simply the process of water changing from ice to water vapor without first melting. Evaporation is generally used as a catchall term to include both evaporation and sublimation.
In the presence of dry air, the sublimation of water molecules from the ice crystals cools the air in contact with the surface. As conduction and mixing from the surrounding air attempt to warm the surface of the crystals, sublimation continues to balance off the warming. As some of the ice melts, the melting process also cools the air. The water that melts then evaporates, further cooling the air to slow the melting rate. The consideration here is that the absorption of heat keeps the air adjacent to the ice crystals cold enough to survive the trip through the warm air without completely melting. The drier the air and the deeper the dry air, the better the chance that ice crystals can reach the ground. Of course, the danger here is that the snow completely dissipates in the dry air. An interesting article on the ScienceBits website called "Snow at above freezing temperatures" discusses some aspects of the cooling process in detail. More information can also be found in an article on the National Snow and Ice Data Center website.