BRR! Snowier and Colder Winter Predicted for Minnesota, IA, and WI?

NOAA’s U.S. Winter Outlook was released by the Climate Prediction Center — a division of the National Weather Service.

I went through the article, so you don’t have to! Here is essentially what the National Weather Service predicts for the 2022-23 winter.

Starting in December 2022 through February 2023, NOAA predicts “drier-than-average conditions across the South with wetter-than-average conditions for areas of the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes, northern Rockies, and Pacific Northwest.”

When it comes to temperature the NOAA predicts

• warmer-than-average conditions predicted in western Alaska, and the Central Great Basin and Southwest extending through the Southern Plains.
• Warmer-than-average temperatures are also favored in the Southeastern U.S. and along the Atlantic coast.
• Below-normal temperatures are favored from the Pacific Northwest eastward to the western Great Lakes and the Alaska Panhandle.

When it comes to precipitation the NOAA predicts

• Wetter-than-average conditions are most likely in western Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, Great Lakes and Ohio Valley.
• The greatest chances for drier-than-average conditions are forecast in portions of California, the Southwest, the southern Rockies, southern Plains, Gulf Coast and much of the Southeast.
• The remainder of the U.S. falls into the category of equal chances for below-, near-, or above-average seasonal total precipitation.

If, you are wondering what this all means it’s okay! Here is the bottom line for Minnesota and the rest of the Midwest:

NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) forecast for the upcoming winter months of December-February shares that Colder than normal temperatures are slightly favored across the Upper Mississippi River Valley, and Wetter-than-normal precipitation is slightly favored across the Upper Mississippi River Valley.

However!! This does not necessarily imply that this winter will end up being snowier than normal. Wheater.gov shares that essentially while a “weak to moderate La Niña is expected to impact the weather across much of the United States, its impacts in the Upper Mississippi River Valley can be highly variable with both temperatures and precipitation.”

So with that, as always fellow Minnesotans, be prepared for the worst, and hope for the best!

All information is credited to NOAA’s weather outlook release and weather.gov.