Minnesota Is In For A Warmer Winter: NOAA

MINNESOTA — A mild winter could be in store for much of the United States, including Minnesota, according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. In the U.S. Winter Outlook for December through February, above-average temperatures are most likely across the northern and western U.S., Alaska and Hawaii.

Additionally, El Nino has a 70 to 75 percent chance of developing, officials said.

"We expect El Nino to be in place in late fall to early winter," Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, said in a statement.

"Although a weak El Nino is expected, it may still influence the winter season by bringing wetter conditions across the southern United States, and warmer, drier conditions to parts of the North."

El Nino is an ocean-atmosphere climate interaction that is linked to periodic warming in sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. During the winter, typical El Nino conditions in the U.S. can include wetter-than-average precipitation in the South and drier conditions in parts of the North.

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Image via NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.