October 23, 2023
The greatest odds for warmer than average conditions are in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and northern New England.
Jon Gottschalk, operations branch chief of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center that released a Winter Outlook report, predicting a warmer winter for the Northern U.S. and a wet and stormy one for the South.
The Big Picture: A warmer winter approaches for the United States says forecasters who predict the North and far West to be warmer than normal and the South to be wet and stormy as a “strong El Niño heavily moderates and changes the storm tracks of what America is likely to face from December to February, with an added warming boost from climate change and record hot oceans” (The Associated Press).
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in their Winter Outlook, “This year, El Nino is in place heading into winter for the first time in four years, driving the outlook for warmer-than-average temperatures for the northern tier of the continental United States,” and “From December through February, NOAA predicts wetter-than-average conditions for northern Alaska, portions of the West, the southern Plains, Southeast, Gulf Coast and lower mid-Atlantic and drier-than-average conditions across the northern tier of the U.S., especially in the northern Rockies and High Plains and near the Great Lakes.“
Also to Note: The NOAA said they continue to monitor drought conditions in 1/3 of the country, and El Niño may provide relief.
What is El Niño? El Niño, meaning “Little Boy” in Spanish occurs every two to seven years when warmer ocean water drifts towards the western part of the U.S. and can then impact the weather patterns in the winter months. Read More
Read More:
Forecast predict an El Niño winter. What does that mean? (The Associated Press)
U.S. Winter Outlook: Wetter South, warmer North (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
How El Niño will affect the weather this winter (CNBC)
by Sarah Pinkerton,
