ROANOKE, Va. – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its U.S. Winter Outlook for the 2024-2025 season on Thursday. We are breaking down what it means for Southwest and Central Virginia.
A weak signal of La Nina is expected this upcoming Winter. What does that mean?
Well, a strong signal would boost the confidence for the upcoming season’s forecast, but a weak signal would mean more variability is possible.
NOAA’s seasonal temperature outlook replicates that of a typical La Nina year. However, given the weak La Nina that will be in place during the season, there is a little bit of wiggle room within this forecast.
By no means does it mean that every day of this upcoming winter will feature above-average temperatures, but rather the average temperature of the entire season is expected to be above normal.
In terms of precipitation, NOAA does not directly do seasonal snowfall outlooks. Instead, they do a probabilistic forecast on the chances of seeing above or below-average precipitation for the season.
For Southwest and Central Virginia, we are between the probability of seeing below and above-average precipitation. This does not indicate that 24/25 Winter will reflect a “normal” or average amount of snow.
Also, given the likelihood of above-average temperatures, one is left to think the upcoming Winter will feature below-average snowfall.
More on this topic will be discussed in the coming weeks, for now, you can download our weather app to stay up to date on all things weather