Over the weekend, the Climate Prediction Center released its revised December temperature outlook, which looks quite a bit different than the one they released back on November 20th. The old version had warmer than normal conditions predicted for an area centered on Oklahoma and Kansas, while the new one, as you can see below, says it’s going to be warm in the west and cold in the east:

The other possible bit of good news for rain-starved Georgia is that the precipitation outlook has changed as well, with what was a 33% chance of drier than normal weather in the state changing to equal chances of above or below normal rainfall.

The updated temperature outlook brings the Weather Service more in line with what other winter forecasts are saying, and with what the CPC’s 6-10 and 8-14 day outlooks call for, which is for a significant chance of below normal temperatures for most of the US and above normal precipitation for all but the desert southwest from the 7th through the 15th of December.

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Our friends at the Climate Prediction Center have finally released their 2008/2009 winter outlook, which calls for warmer then normal temperatures for much of the Mississippi Valley states, and drier than normal weather for most of the southeast and Gulf Coast. Here’s the temperature outlook:

And here’s the outlook for precipitation:

The CPC admits that without strong signals for either an El Nino or a La Nina winter, it presents a challenge to create its outlook, and admit that there could be a lot of variability in the weather this winter:

“These patterns are only predictable a week or two in advance and could persist for weeks at a time,” said Michael Halpert, deputy director, Climate Prediction Center. “Therefore, we expect variability, or substantial changes in temperature and precipitation across much of the country.”

if the outlook holds true, Georgia will experience a warmer than normal winter in the northwest part of the state, extending through the Atlanta metro, with less than normal precipitation, especially in the southern part of the state. The winter outlook is based on the CPC’s normal 3 month outlook for December, January and February which was released on Thursday, and pretty much follows the ideas they have had for the past few months.

I don’t know how much faith I have in their outlook, though. So far in November, Atlanta is running about 2.6 degrees cooler than normal, and I don’t see that trend changing through December. (The rainfall deficit seems to match the weather service’s ideas, though.) So if December is cooler than normal, we’re going to need a warm January and February to make up for it.

Updated winter forecasts from Accuweather and others will be available soon, and I’ll keep you posted.

With winter just a month away from a meteorological perspective, it’s time to take a look at some of the forecasts that have been issued for a glimpse of what the season will bring.

We’ll start with the always interesting and sometimes reliable Old Farmer’s Almanac’s prediction for the southeast, which includes much of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Overall, they expect cold temperatures and normal to above normal precipitation, with more precipitation in the south. Look for above average snowfall, and the coldest weather in mid to late December, mid-January and mid-February.

On the other hand, Accuweather’s Joe Bastardi says to expect colder than normal weather for much of the east, with December being the coldest month relative to normal, a January thaw, and then cold again in February. The East can also expect more snow than last year.

WSB Radio forecaster Kirk Melhuish released his preliminary winter outlook this week, and it is similar to Accuweather, with ‘bookends’ cold spells at the beginning and end of the season, and less snowfall and slightly less rainfall than average. Kirk will issue his final winter forecast at the beginning of December.

Finally, what does the Weather Service say? They haven’t done a press release on their outlook as they have done in past years, so all you can do is look at their 3 month outlook for December-January. Unlike the other forecasts, the Climate Prediction Center thinks we have a better chance than normal for warmer weather. They also predict a 33% chance of drier weather, especially in mid and south Georgia.

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Reader Morgan wanted to know if we were likely to see some relief from the drought and any changes to the climate patterns we’ve been seeing over the past few years.  While I wish I was as prescient as he makes me appear, let’s take a look at what might happen this winter.

We’ll start with the three month outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center. The three month outlook from October through December calls for equal chances of above or below normal temperatures and precipitation for the period east of the Mississippi River.  Note this doesn’t mean a ‘normal’ fall season–it’s more like the indicators they are using for the outlook don’t point strongly one way or another.

For the winter proper, from December, 2008 through February 2009, the CPC says we’re likely to see warmer than normal temperatures for most of the US, and drier than normal conditions in the southeast, including Georgia. Based on what I’ve seen in the past, this prediction is likely to become the ‘official’ winter outlook that the Weather Service will release in Mid October.  You’ve got to take these outlooks with a grain of salt.  In their Winter 2007-08 outlook, they predicted a warm and dry seaon, while in actuality, the results show we did have above normal temperatures in Georgia, but we also had above normal rain.

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The number crunchers over at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville have released the final figures for Winter 2008, running from December through February. In the United States and around the world, it was the coldest winter recorded since 2001, with an average US temperature of 33.2 degrees–still .2 degrees above the 20th century average. Much of the country saw above-normal precipitation, leading to plenty of snow in the north and west.

In February, US temperatures were near average, and precipitation was above normal. It was the 84th wettest and 63rd warmest of 114 years measured. In general, the west was cooler than average, while the east was warmer. In Georgia, it was the 88th warmest winter recorded, with the warmest temperatures relative to average in the northwest and southeast corners of the state.

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