Winter officially arrived on Friday, Dec. 21, 2018, at 5:23 p.m. EST, with the winter solstice marking the official change of seasons. Yet, sneak peeks of wintry conditions hit the Rocky Mountains, northern Plains, Great Lakes, and northern New England as early as October. Significant snows and cold temperatures reached some unlikely places, such as the central and southern Plains, the Texas Panhandle, and parts of the Southeast. Chilly temperatures and a foot of snow snarled traffic and caused widespread power outages on Dec. 9th.
“The cold temperatures are just beginning,” states Editor Peter Geiger, Philomath, adding, “while some naysayers tried to throw ice water on our ‘teeth-chattering-cold’ winter forecast, Mother Nature seems to be hard at work ensuring that our predictions are accurate.”
According to the official winter outlook from the 2019 Farmers’ Almanac, released in August, the real frigid temperatures don’t arrive until mid-February, especially in the Northeast/New England, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, Midwest, and Southeast regions.
The winter forecast predicts a lot more snow to come, especially for the Great Lakes states, Midwest, and central and northern New England areas. The majority of the snow will fall in January and February. Snowfall totals could reach above normal numbers in the northern and central Rockies and Plains.
In the forecast is an unusually snowy and/or wet winter across the Pacific Northwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic States; in these regions, with the temperature hovering just above or just below the freezing mark. Precipitation is likely to fall as either ice, rain, or freezing rain. Significant snowfalls are also predicted for parts of all seven U.S. zones.
Click here, to view specific zone predictions.
