{"id":2468,"date":"2014-12-02T13:01:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T21:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=2468"},"modified":"2018-11-11T22:29:26","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T06:29:26","slug":"winter-outlook-western-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/winter-outlook-western-u-s","title":{"rendered":"The Winter Outlook for the Western U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

The big question right now for outdoor enthusiasts in the western U.S. is how much snow will fall this winter.<\/p>\n

Last year was a mixed bag, with snow drought conditions in California and southern Utah, while Washington, Idaho and Montana made up for a dry fall to end up with above-normal snowpack by early spring.<\/p>\n

The latest snowpack information from the USDA Snotel network indicates well-below-normal snowpack over the Sierra and Cascades, but near-normal conditions over Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.<\/p>\n

\"cliff<\/p>\n

But what will happen next? Meteorologists’ most useful tool for predicting the nature of western U.S. winters is the correlation between El Nino\/La Nina and regional weather. El Nino years are associated with warmer-than-normal tropical Pacific waters and often bring warmer-than-normal conditions to the western U.S., less snow in the northwest and more precipitation in the southwest.<\/p>\n

It appears this winter we will be in a weak El Nino pattern, and forecasters at the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center are predicting a winter with El Nino characteristics. There will be more precipitation over the southern tier of of the U.S. and drier-than-normal conditions over the Northwest.<\/p>\n

\"cliff<\/p>\n

The Climate Prediction Center forecasts warmer than normal conditions from the Rockies to the West Coast. Keep in mind that such long-range forecasts have imperfect skill, analogous to weighting a coin so that heads occurs perhaps 70 percent of the time.<\/p>\n

\"cliff<\/p>\n

The bottom line prediction for snow lovers?<\/p>\n

There will be below-normal snowpack over the Northwest and more precipitation in California than last year, which means more snow in the high Sierras. Colorado will have a normal year. This forecast has imperfect skill, but it is the best we can do at this point.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The big question right now for outdoor enthusiasts in the western U.S. is how much snow will fall this winter. Last year was a mixed bag, with snow drought conditions in California and southern Utah, while Washington, Idaho and Montana made up for a dry fall to end up with above-normal snowpack by early spring. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1515,364,138,145],"internal-tag":[550,1683],"class_list":["post-2468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-snowsports","tag-northwest","tag-snowsports","tag-united-states","tag-weather","internal-tag-cliff-mass","internal-tag-pre-redirect-snowsports"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/winter-outlook-western-u-s","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Winter Outlook for the Western U.S.","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/winter-outlook-western-u-s","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/winter-outlook-western-u-s"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/12\/12600564915-2aee406405-k-e1447878854586.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/12\/12600564915-2aee406405-k-e1447878854586.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Snowsports","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Paolo Mottola"}],"creator":["Paolo Mottola"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["northwest","snowsports","united states","weather"],"dateCreated":"2014-12-02T21:01:43Z","datePublished":"2014-12-02T21:01:43Z","dateModified":"2018-11-12T06:29:26Z"},"rendered":"