Strong El Niño expected to bring warmer, wetter winter

Speaking of, as the air turns colder, many are wondering what to expect this winter. 22 News Storm Team Meteorologist Alexa Bianco joins us with a look at the winter outlook. Yes, thank you, Brian. Snow and cold are part of our winter here in New England, but every season varies, and the outlook offers some clues about what we could see this year. The winter outlook covers December, January, and February, looking at whether temperatures and precipitation could trend above or below average. average. It doesn't predict individual storms or exact snowfall totals, but it helps give us a broader picture of the season ahead. We're going into a very strong El Nino winter. Typically those tend to be warmer than average and less snow as we look back, you know, at our analogs of past years that have had strong El Ninos. The difference with this one is that it is a record-breaking strong El Nino. We've never seen an El Nino this strong before. A strong and strengthening El Nino is also a factor in this winter's outlook. That warming of the tropical Pacific can influence weather patterns far beyond the ocean. NOAA expects very strong conditions to continue early next year. We are predicted to have a warmer-than-normal winter, below-average snowfall, and above-normal precipitation. Even though the Climate Prediction Center is predicting more of a warmer and wetter winter, that doesn't mean we won't have any snow or cold days. You're going to go through cold spells. You're still going to have some arctic outbreak. When we're talking about below-average snowfall, it doesn't mean that, of course, we're not going to get snow. You can still get a really big snowstorm, and all it takes is one big snowstorm to change the outcome of the snowfall for the whole winter. And even with a seasonal outlook, winter can still bring big changes from week to week, and, of course, we'll keep you updated with those changes. Working for you, Storm Team Meteorologist Alexa Bianco.