"Colder Than Normal" Midwestern Winter Developing

BY JEFF BROWN

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center recently predicted La Nina conditions would continue into the winter, and Illinoisans could feel the chill from it thousands of miles away.

Water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean have dipped to low levels, and if those conditions persist, the La Nina pattern would become official. In the meantime, some meteorologists are predicting a more winter-like season than last year.

“The correlation between winter temperatures and weak to moderate La Nina definitely shows a colder-than-normal trend, especially around the Great Lakes, the northern and western Midwest and the northern half of the Plains,” Freese-Notis Meteorologist Dan Hicks told the RFD Radio Network®.

In addition to colder temperatures, Illinois could be in for above-average snowfall.

“From right around the Mississippi River eastward into the northeastern U.S., precipitation tends to average above normal,” Hicks said. “So if you factor those things together, you certainly could make an argument the northern half of the Midwest having above-average snowfall this winter.

“Of course, the farther south you go, the potential for more mixed precipitation would occur.”

Northern Illinois, Hicks pointed out, got an early taste of winter. The northern portion of the state has been running 6-7 degrees below normal on temperatures so far in November, he said.