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Winter Weather Outlook: More snow?
Stephanie Mead takes a look ahead at what we can expect for this winter.
FOX 2 - It's been an exceptionally warm fall and with winter right around the corner, many are thinking - "Are we going to pay for it this winter?"
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released it's Winter Outlook for this upcoming winter season with La Niña influencing winter weather across the country.
What does that exactly mean? Well, La Niña means cooler water temperatures off the Pacific. This takes the jet stream north and takes it across the middle part of the country through the Midwest.
This creates:
- Stormy and wetter conditions in the Pacific Northwest.
- Drier, warmer conditions in the south.
- Wetter than normal conditions in the Ohio Valley and parts of The Great Lakes.
The South is forecast to be dry. This year we have wetter than average conditions expected across the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and the Pacific Northwest - which means we could see rain and snow.
Wetter conditions doesn't always mean snow - depending on the temperature, it could mean rain.
During La Niña winters, the Pacific Northwest usually sees below average temperatures, with the south and NE staying warm. There is no strong signal for warmer or colder than average temps in the Great Lakes.
The average high temperature for the winter months in Southeast Michigan is 34.9 degrees and 21.8 for the low for the months of December, January and February.
The average amount of snow is 35.4 inches with December seeing about 9 inches, January, 14 inches and for February, 12.5 inches.
Last year we picked up around 6.5 inches of rain through the winter months.
Last winter was the fourth-warmest on record with temperatures of about 35 degrees. We also picked up only 20 inches of snow, which is 15 inches below the seasonal average.
Seasonal forecasts are always tricky, but with La Niña in place, we are likely to see a wetter winter.
This favors the above normal range of snow during cold snaps. But again, timing is everything. We'll most likely pick up more snow than last year.
Like most winters, expect to see cold snaps and periods where we see heavy snow.