Iowa’s Winter Forecast for the Months Ahead

Winter officially begins in Iowa at 10:49 Monday night and forecasters expect it to be an unusual one in the Hawkeye State.

The strongest El Nino in nearly two decades is warming up some areas while cooling off others... and causing swings in precipitation as well. In Iowa, the western half of the state is expected to be near normal, which the eastern half has a 33 percent chance of below normal precipitation.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about California's preparedness for a very wet first three months of 2016. The winter forecast for southern California shows a 60 percent chance of above normal precipitation.

Forecasters believe there's a 40 to 50 percent chance Iowa's temperatures will be above normal this winter, and I'm ok with that. Cedar Rapids has already set two record highs this month with 62 (December 13) and 59 (December 14) degrees, and more may be on the way this month and in the coming three... and I'm ok with that.

[via Weather Channel and National Weather Service]