NOAA releases winter outlook, what it means for North Texas

El Nino is in place heading into this upcoming winter for the first time in 4 years. This weather feature is the main driver in the long-range winter forecast released by the Climate Prediction Center.

The northern tier of the country is calling for a warmer-than-normal winter. In North Texas, near normal temperatures are forecasted.

Much of the southern half of the country could experience a wetter-than-normal winter.

An enhanced southern jet stream carrying in moisture from the Pacific Ocean is a very typical setup during El Nino events- supporting this wetter-than-normal forecast. The outlook does not provide seasonal snowfall accumulation. Snow forecasts are generally not predictable more than a week in advance.

Given this forecast - here is what winter in North Texas typically looks like:

January is usually the coldest month with a normal high of 57. Normal low of 36. December is the wettest month with 2.84” of precipitation.

We average 1.6” of snow each year with 29 days of below-freezing temperatures.