Tropical systems this far inland usually result in flooding or tornadoes.

Below-average snowfall is more common during La Niña winters

Happy Monday and welcome to another edition of Beyond The Forecast!

Happy Monday and welcome to another edition of Beyond The Forecast!

Restaurant owner Leticia Rodríguez celebrated the construction late last year of a new lakeside boulevard in this northern Mexico town that she hoped would draw more people to her business.

The organization is expecting 14-21 named storms, 6-10 hurricanes and 3-6 major hurricanes

For the second year in a row, we’ve exhausted the list of names allocated for the Atlantic hurricane season.

Happy Monday and welcome to another edition of Beyond The Forecast!

Before our snowfall projections, we want to start by explaining a few factors that are influencing this year’s forecast, like La Niña and Siberian snow cover. This year, we are dealing with La Niña conditions, which are described as cooler than average temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Perú. La Niña means cooler Pacific Ocean waters off the coast of Perú (WSLS)In the Southeastern United States, we usually experience warmer and drier conditions during a La Niña winter. The tropics have an inverse effect on how active winter is in the Eastern United States. Roanoke’s average snowfall is 18.5 inches, while the New River Valley gets 22 inches and the Highlands receives 24 inches of snow.

Your Local Weather Authority is in the process of making its forecast for the upcoming winter. Experts at NOAA are forecasting warmer than average temperatures across the southern half of the United States. What the La Niña typically meansThe main reason for a forecast like this has to do with the La Niña, which is described as cooler than average temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. What a La Niña meansWe reconstructed a map from the North Carolina Climate Office to show what a typical La Niña looks like across the U.S. during the winter months. In fact, one out of every four La Niña winters exceed expectations.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting that the La Nia will continue into the winter, with a La Nia Advisory now in effect. The observed La Nia conditions are likely to continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter (~75% chance). https://t.co/5zlzaYJ1Lp pic.twitter.com/jU6lzWOmHj NWS Climate Prediction Center (@NWSCPC) September 10, 2020What is a La Nia? Previous research that weve done shows the impact that La Nia has on our winters in Southwest and Central Virginia. Since 1950, when ENSO records were first kept, 74% of La Nia winters have produced below-average snowfall.