What does the outlook for winter weather across the U.S. look like? USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says the Climate Prediction Center’s late November forecast for the winter months indicates “La Niña is expected to rule the roost when it comes to temperature and precipitation patterns for the winter of 2025–26.”
In fact, recent weather developments resemble expectations for winter conditions.
“Some of these cold air masses that are building in from western and northwestern North America, punching into the northern Plains and the Midwest, are very consistent with what you would expect during a La Niña winter, and that is exactly what we have seen develop over the last couple of months.”
Before providing a breakdown of forecast temperatures and precipitation ranges by region this winter, Rippey also offers this caveat:
“The individual storms can vary greatly from that overall pattern, and certainly any individual storm can kind of break free of that pattern.”
First, the temperature outlook for the continental U.S. for December, January and February, showing:
“Expectations for below-normal temperatures across much of the northern United States, stretching all the way from Washington state eastward through the northern Plains, as far south as Nebraska and into much of the Midwest as well.”
Yet La Niña in the wintertime usually comes in the southern tier of the nation with:
“Generally warmer-than-normal conditions, at least average. So we do expect above-normal temperatures from California through the Southwest and then from the Gulf Coast extending northeastward into the Mid-Atlantic and southern Atlantic states.”
What about precipitation — potential rain or snow during the winter months?
“La Niña winters often come with a double precipitation maximum across the northern United States. One area where we do expect to see above-normal precipitation would be the Northern Rockies and northern High Plains. That, of course, would be in the form of snow. So you might expect to see some significant snow across parts of the Northwest, extending to the northern High Plains. The second precipitation maximum would be across the lower Midwest, and so you look at the Ohio Valley and the eastern Corn Belt; that is another area expected to see unusually wet conditions during the winter that could be either in the form of rain or snow, depending on each individual storm system.”
Meanwhile, “with La Niña, we do expect drier-than-normal conditions to dominate, and that would include Southern California through the Southern Great Plains and extending through the Gulf Coast region into the lower Southeast, extending as far north as the Mid-Atlantic states.”