The National Weather Service issued their Winter Weather Outlook Thursday.
With La Niña still in place for the third year in a row, this phenomenon will create a warmer-than-average winter for the southern parts of the U.S. and up the East Coast. The cold temperatures and snow will most likely occur across the northern tier, the Great Lakes and New England.
La Niña is an ocean and atmospheric phenomenon that occurs in the Pacific Ocean every seven years when the trade winds are stronger than usual. The stronger trade winds push warm ocean water towards Asia, which then allows cold ocean water to swell up along the West Coast of the U.S.
That change in ocean temperatures pushes the jet stream further north across the northwestern part of the country. This northward shift in the jet stream is known as a ridge of high pressure. In turn, this ridge creates a dip in the jet stream in the east, which can bring cold, moist air into the Northern Plains, Great Lakes and New England. Ultimately, this allows warm, dry air to be pushed across the Southern U.S. and up the East Coast.
With this trend in mind, this allows for warmer and drier winters across the South and up East Coast but a colder and wetter winter across the Northwest and along the Great Lakes.
In summary, NOAA is predicting that we will have a winter similar to last year.
Mark Reynolds will have his Winter Weather Outlook just before Thanksgiving, so be sure to be on the lookout for that!
