Cold, Snowy Winter Ahead?

That's right.  With all this heat and humidity lately, I thought it would be a good time to give your brain a mental cool down with some chilly thoughts about this upcoming winter.  Anyone who has been watching weather-related news the past few months may have heard of our recent transition from an El Nino to a La Nina in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.  During a La Nina event, the surface waters of the equatorial Pacific are 0.5 degrees Celsius or greater below normal.  Both El Nino and La Nina effect global weather patterns, and La Nina tends to impact our weather the most during the winter months when the jet stream is the strongest over the United States.  Typically, La Nina winters in Wisconsin (especially during moderate to strong La Nina events) tend to be colder than normal and wetter/snowier than normal.  The current La Nina is forecasted to become moderate to strong over the next several months.

The National Weather Service in Milwaukee, WI has recently done a study comparing La Nina event years to the normal climatic observations for both Madison and Milwaukee in southern Wisconsin.  The study concluded that both cities say below normal temperatures between January and March AND more snowy/wetter conditions during the same time frame.  This finding is very similar for the rest of Wisconsin as well.  Thus, for this winter, you could expect more snow to fall across Wisconsin with slightly cooler conditions, especially from January to March when La Nina events tend to impact the Midwest the most.