NOAA Winter Forecast Showing Cooler, Wetter 2024-2025 Season

(KNSI) — Minnesota could see a relatively normal, but maybe wetter than average winter this coming season.

According to NOAA’s U.S. Winter Outlook from the Climate Prediction Center, from December 2024 through February 2025, a slowly developing La Niña is favored to influence conditions here, especially when it comes to precipitation. La Niña typically leads to a more northerly storm track. The CPC says there is a greater than 30% chance of seeing above average precip. Mostly, we see snowfall, but sleet, freezing rain, ice, and even rain are also possible.

For the 2023-2024 winter, St. Cloud saw just 31.9″ of snow last year, while snowfall during an average year is around 48″.

Roughly the western half of the state could see below average temperatures. For historic averages, the most recent data available is from 1893 to 2020 and shows December’s historic average temp is 16.4, January’s is 9.6 and February’s is 14.0. The 30 year average from 1991 to 2020 has December at 17.8 degrees, January at 11.8 and February is 16.1.

Another update for the winter predictions is coming up on November 21st.

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