CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – Rain totals for 2020 will top out above normal across much of Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. 2021 looks to stay relatively wet but the temperatures are going to be above normal to get us through the next few months of winter.
Moderate La Nina conditions are present across the Pacific Ocean, as indicated by current oceanic and atmospheric observations. La Nina is expected to continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter, with a potential transition to normal conditions in the spring of 2021.
The January-February-March (JFM) temperature outlook favors below normal seasonal mean temperatures for the Pacific Northwest eastward across the Northern Rockies to the Northern Plains.
Maximum probabilities for below normal temperatures exceed 50% over the Washington state. Above normal temperatures are favored across approximately the southern one-half of the CONUS, extending northward across the Ohio Valley, Central and Northern Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast.
Maximum probabilities for above normal temperatures exceed 60% across parts of the Southwest, Southern Rockies and Southern Great Plains. The JFM precipitation outlook favors above
normal precipitation for most of the northern tier of the CONUS, extending southward from the Great Lakes across eastern portions of the Middle Mississippi Valley, the Ohio Valley, and the Central and Northern Appalachians.
Maximum probabilities for above normal precipitation exceed 50% over the Lower Ohio Valley. There are elevated odds of below normal precipitation for approximately the southern one-third to one-half of the CONUS, and along the southern Alaska coast from the eastern Alaska Peninsula to the southern Panhandle region. Maximum probabilities of below normal precipitation exceed 60% from southeastern Arizona to the Big Bend area of Texas, and over parts of northern Florida and southern Georgia.
