Winter weather 2021: what are forecasters predicting?

As the days get shorter and temperatures drop, the winter season is approaching again.

Extremely cold air cooled the nation last winter and a deadly storm left millions without power in Texas, killing more than 200 residents – although some reports believe the death toll is even higher.

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This season, the meteorological winter begins on 1st December, ending at the end of February 2022.

Forecasters have already predicted that the La Niña weather phenomenon will shape weather patterns this winter.

According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), La Niña climate models have stronger trade winds, pushing warm water towards Asia, and upwelling intensifies off the west coast, bringing cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface of the the Pacific Ocean.

The cold waters of the Pacific push the jet stream – narrow bands of strong wind that generally blow from west to east across the world, including two polar jet streams and two subtropical jet streams – northward, which tends to lead to droughts in the southern states United, heavy rains and flooding in the Pacific Northwest.

During a La Niña year, winter temperatures are warmer than normal in the south and cooler than normal in the north, the agency notes.

AccuWeather meteorologists reported on Thursday that there are indications that this year’s La Niña will be weaker than in 2020, in addition to a weaker polar vortex that could allow colder arctic air to move south toward the United States before December.

The Arctic polar vortex is a strong band of winds in the stratosphere surrounding the North Pole about 10 to 30 miles above the surface.

During the winter the The arctic polar vortex is expanding, sending cold air south.

AccuWeather said the first waves of cold air will hit the northeast in November, along with early snow.

While the severity and frequency of snow and cold air are expected to abate briefly, forecasters have said January will be the month to watch.

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Any thaw would come weeks later, AccuWeather added, with an increased risk of nor’easters at the end of the season.

The northern plains and the Great Lakes are also expected to experience a colder and snowier winter, with the first rounds of lacustrine snow beginning in late November and December.

In the southeastern and southern plains, December is expected to be mild, AccuWeather said, with the first frost occurring later than normal.

There is potential for another major cold spell in the southern plains in late January or February, but “not something at the historic level” that has been felt in Texas.

As extreme weather conditions loom throughout the season in the southern United States – sending rain and thunderstorms to the Mississippi and Tennessee valleys – the southeast Atlantic coast is expected to experience more dry than normal.

Alternatively, the Pacific Northwest will have a rainy winter, with early storms expected to end. forest fire season in the region and aid in the fight against the historic west Drought.

Finally, AccuWeather said the southwest will not experience early season precipitation, allowing the wildfire season to continue through December.

That said, the outlook for rain in California is expected to increase in January and the Golden State and the Southwest should experience milder-than-normal conditions this winter – although some spells of cold weather cannot be ruled out in addition to the chances of precipitation for the interior Southwest.

In his own forecasts, The 2022 Old Farmer Almanac announced in the same way this winter 2022 would be a “chill season” with below average temperatures and snow for New England, the Ohio Valley, northern parts of the Deep South, and southeastern New Mexico.

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The post wrote that while temperatures from eastern Montana to the Dakotas and northeastern Colorado would be relatively normal, snowfall there would be above average.

In the west, the Old Farmer’s Almanac said the Pacific coast and southwest will also feel the cold, although most areas will remain relatively dry.