La Niña is still in place this month - according to the Climate Prediction Center, meaning the tropical Pacific Ocean is running cooler than average and the atmosphere is acting like it too.
Forecasters expect this weak La Niña to hang on through the heart of winter, then most likely fade to neutral sometime between January and March.
Confidence for December–February is close to a toss-up, but slightly favors La Niña.
Because it’s weak, the classic winter patterns tied to La Niña—like drier conditions in the South and wetter weather in the Northwest—may be muted or spotty.
It looks like we should plan for La Niña influences to linger into early winter, then ease as we move toward spring.
NOAA and the CPC will update the outlook again next month, which we’ll be looking at for you, as regular updates will resume with the end of the Government shutdown.
