One thing all forecasters seem to agree on is a very strong El Nino pattern now in the Pacific ocean which means those of us in the east can expect warmer than average temperatures from now through October. For the winter the nation is forecast to look something like this:
This is excellent news for California where they are desperate for rain. More details on the predictions for the 8 zones here.
Many at NOAA think this could be the strongest El Nino ever, resulting in a temperature map that looks like this:
The Farmers Almanac will be out with their predictions by the end of the August and I will post them at that time.
3 comments
I would love to see comparisons from predictions of previous years to the actual outcomes at winters end. I don’t see too much accuracy with local forecasts in their 5 to 7 day planners, so this doesn’t mean too much to me. I do like the labels though and especially the number 5 area “temps and precip will vary”. I mean really? Not only that but the “cold/typical snow” from Maine down into the Midwest? There is going out on a limb. And then the all important mixed bag prediction of “wintery battle zone”, whatever that means. I guess that means it could be snow, rain, ice, maybe some rain and then snow or snow and ice or even some rain that freezes.
“Wintry battle zone” … doesn’t look warmer for Virginia.
Right. It’s predicted to be warmer through October followed by a colder winter.