Long Range Winter Forecast - Snowy

I know that it's early, but for the winter lovers among us, Accuweather's Joe Bastardi is predicting a cold and snowy winter to come.

The areas that will be hit hardest this winter by cold, snowy weather will be from New England through the Appalachians and mid-Atlantic, including North Carolina. Areas from New York City to Raleigh have gotten by the past two years with very little snowfall. This year these areas could end up with above-normal snowfall.

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HERE is the link to the full article.

If this coming winter compares to 2002-2003 as the article states, we had 125" here in S. NH!

This must be some strange effect of global warming, kind of like when a light bulb gets brighter right before it dies out. Any year now, winter will just be gone for good!

Wow. That chart does pretty much speak for itself. I thought the cool temps were just my imagination (one of New England's most popular pastimes is complaining about the weather, right?).

So should I start investing in winter backpacking gear now?

pffft
I will wait to see the wooly bear catapillars before I make my prediction.

Guthook said:

So should I start investing in winter backpacking gear now?

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Yes! Buy last years stuff.

Signs

I always by by the signs that Dear old Mother Nature provides.

My three apple trees are unusually heavy with fruit this summer as well as my high bush Blueberries and Blackberry bushes.

I already have had bears wandering around checking the apple trees out this summer. During seasons like this I try to get all the apples on the ground in the Fall through picking and shaking so that the bears don't have to climb the trees and break branches like has happened in the past.

It's really fun sitting on my living room watching the bears performing their inventories.

My vote is for another snowy winter coming up.

Wishcasting

I hope that JB is right, but my experience is that he tends to be more sensational than right. If this summer's June-July pattern were to continue, he just might be... but on the other hand, if the El Nino strengthens as much as is predicted, it might be a pretty warm winter. His take on the El Nino fading is quite different than most computer models suggest.

From the NWS:
SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES (SSTS) IN THE EASTERN AND CENTRAL EQUATORIAL PACIFIC OCEAN ARE NOW WELL ABOVE NORMAL AND CPC HAS DECLARED AN EL NINO IN EFFECT. WATER TEMPERATURES ARE WELL ABOVE NORMAL IN THE UPPER 200 METERS OF THE TROPICAL PACIFIC OCEAN, MAKING IT LIKELY THAT ABOVE NORMAL SSTS WILL CONTINUE INTO THE REST OF SUMMER, FALL AND WINTER.

I'm planning to enjoy the heat for a couple more weeks, while we have it, before tuning up the snowblower once again.

Weatherman

As strange as it may seem, I've read that the current trends may produce COOLER weather in the NE.

Good old Joe B...always calling for a big winter. I think he loves snow more than skiers.

I have a prediction: Northern New England will get much more snow than I'll be getting in Virginia. I'm willing to bet my life savings on it.

Summer = yard work, chores, family obligations, bugs, mud...

Bring on the snow and ice !

I like Joe B. because he really gets into his weather analysis. At times, it seems like some of the TV forecasters are just regurgitating the latest modeled forecast.

I just perused the long range 2009-2010 winter forecast thread on the Accuweather.com forum and it has 55 pages of posts with moderators warning posters and deleting posts, interesting stuff!

The original post was more for giggles, but from what I can tell the El Nino is forming too late for it to become very strong in time for winter. But I'm probably just wishcasting, not forecasting.

Chip said:

Summer = yard work, chores, family obligations, bugs, mud...

Bring on the snow and ice !

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Hot bad.
Cold good.

Anything after October works for me...

Quietman said:

... but from what I can tell the El Nino is forming too late for it to become very strong in time for winter. But I'm probably just wishcasting, not forecasting.

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So happy to see that I am not the only one making wishcasts. I wish for a cold air mass that will form over Greenland causing the jet stream to loop down...thereby bringing in an artic air mass over the Northeast,,,this combined with the increased misture from el nino will create major snow events,,,and the Red sox will become consistent with the offense. and the patriots will have an undefeated streak into the Super bowl. And the Bruins will hoist the Cup for the first time since 1972.

Seriously at the begining of the spring I got a rain barrel for the garden, that night I prayed for rain...the rest is soggy history. I am doing the smae for snow.

Puck said:

Seriously at the begining of the spring I got a rain barrel for the garden, that night I prayed for rain...the rest is soggy history.

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So we know who to blame.

Puck said:

Seriously at the begining of the spring I got a rain barrel for the garden, that night I prayed for rain...the rest is soggy history. I am doing the smae for snow.

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Throw away your snow shovel.

I always say you'll definitely know what Winter is like once April rolls around again.