It looks like a normal winter ahead for most of North Dakota, with a dose of colder than usual temperatures to start 2022. As for snowfall, long-range outlooks rate the state’s chances as equal, meaning there’s no influential signal indicating greater or lesser snowfall is be expected.
That's the take-away from the latest three-month winter weather outlook issued by the Climate Prediction Center on Thursday. While December temperatures are expected to fall within the normal range of winter readings for North Dakota, a La Nina influence should be felt throughout the northern tier of the United States, North Dakota included, in January and February.
“Below-normal temperatures are most likely for the Pacific Northwest, northern Idaho, Montana, and western North and South Dakota, was well as much of Alaska” reads the outlook, adding that the temperatures are reflective of La Nina.
In short, La Nina conditions are generated by a cooling of the Pacific Ocean that influences weather systems across the U.S., bringing primarily below-average temperatures. This winter’s La Nina is not particularly strong but, nevertheless, is expected to have a noticeable impact over North Dakota until beginning to weaken in March 2022.
The next CPC long-range weather outlook will be issued Dec. 16.
