Weather
The NOAA’s discussion for January, February, and March is good news for the mountains of the PNW and the northern Rockies. These areas can expect to see colder than average temperatures and higher than normal precipitation.
The full discussion is below:
The January-February-March (JFM) 2022 temperature outlook favors above-normal seasonal mean temperatures for the south-central and eastern U.S. The largest probabilities (above 50 percent) for above-normal temperatures are forecast across much of the Gulf Coast States and parts of New England. Probabilities of below-normal temperatures are elevated for parts of the northern High Plains, northern Rockies, Pacific Northwest, northern California, and most of Alaska.
The JFM 2022 precipitation outlook favors below-normal seasonal precipitation amounts from southern California and the Southwest east to the southern Great Plains along with parts of the Southeast. Below-normal precipitation is slightly favored for coastal southern Alaska. Above-normal seasonal precipitation amounts are most likely across the Great Lakes, Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, northern Rockies, Pacific Northwest, and western Mainland Alaska. Equal chances (EC) are forecast among areas where seasonal mean temperatures and seasonal accumulated precipitation amounts are expected to be similar to climatological probabilities.
La Niña conditions are present across the equatorial Pacific Ocean, as represented in current oceanic and atmospheric observations. The official CPC ENSO forecast indicates that La Niña conditions are likely to persist through the winter and early spring. The influence of La Niña continued to play a major role in the temperature and precipitation outlooks during January-February-March and February-March-April 2022.
