Winter In Florida: What La Niña Weather Pattern May Mean

FLORIDA — A new winter outlook holds some potentially good news for Florida residents who are bracing for dramatically higher heating bills.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s U.S. Winter Outlook for December through February, it looks like Florida will have a below normal amount of precipitation and a 40 to 50 percent chance of above normal winter temperatures. That could help residents as they try to rebuild after the damage caused by Hurricane Ian.

A La Niña climate pattern returning for the third consecutive winter is driving warmer-than-average temperatures for the Southwest and along the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard, according to the outlook.

“The hardworking forecasters at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center produce timely and accurate seasonal outlooks and short-term forecasts year-round,” said Michael Farrar, Ph.D., director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. “NOAA’s new supercomputers are enabling us to develop even better, more detailed forecast capabilities, which we’ll be rolling out in the coming years.”

Below-normal temperatures are favored from the Pacific Northwest eastward to the western Great Lakes and the Alaska Panhandle.

• Related: Winter Heating Costs Spike: How Much More Will FL Residents Pay?

Drought conditions are present across about 60 percent of the country, and the La Niña climate pattern may extend the drought to the Gulf Coast, Jon Gottschalck, of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, said in a news release. Parts of the western U.S. and southern Great Plains will be the hardest hit by the dry weather, he said.

The predictions call for wetter-than-average conditions for areas of the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes, northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest.

The outlook does not project seasonal snowfall accumulations as snow forecasts are generally not predictable more than a week in advance.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center updates the three-month outlook each month. The next update will be available Nov. 17.