A Look Ahead to November

So now that we have closed out the month of October and moved on into November, it is time to take a look at the Climate Prediction Center's outlook for precipitation and temperatures for November. You can take a look for yourself as I go through the predictions at http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/.




After seeing an above average month temperature wise and below average precipitation wise for October, the CPC is expecting more of the same for the month of November. Note that the majority of the Central United States looks to be above average temperature wise. The Pacific Northwest looks to be above average precipitation wise, while the majority of the Southern states on into the Central Midwest looks to be dry.

Why is this? Compared to last year, it seems we are completely opposite of where we were. Well a big part of this has to do with El Nino/La Nina. Last year we were in an El Nino phase, this year we are moving into a La Nina phase. This will cool the waters in the Eastern Pacific and warm the waters in the Western Pacific. The predictions for November follow the pattern as seen below in the diagrams.

Notice for La Nina, conditions will be cool and wet in the PAC Northwest and warm and dry in the South/Central United States. This is the typical pattern we see during these conditions. We shall see if this proves to be true for the upcoming month.

Stay tuned for my next blog. I will be looking closely at what we can expect for the winter months ahead. There seems to be some disagreement between the Farmers Almanac, the CPC, and my grad school professors so I will dissect what I know and give you the information to make your own conclusions and weather guesses!