From Fox 25 Chief Meteorologist Kevin Lemanowicz:
"Will it be a snowy winter?" might be the top question I am most frequently asked.
It is a hard question to answer. After all, who would have thought after the heavy Snowtober storm last fall (remember that?) that we'd have so little snow all winter?
But there are some clues to look for and one you most often hear about is El Niño or its opposite pattern La Niña.
With temperatures rising in the Pacific, it seems El Niño has started.
That typically means big storms push from southern California through the desert southwest into Texas where they load up with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and head up the East Coast.
The result is wetter than normal conditions from the Carolinas to New England. It often means more snow.
Last year was a La Niña year, a cooling of the Pacific waters with an equally opposite weather pattern leaving us with a snow drought.
There is much more to what will shape our winter than just the presence of El Niño, however.
How strong El Niño is, for instance, plays a part.
Then there are several other global patterns that we have to watch, too.
Past years are a good gauge of what we can expect and El Niño years favor a stronger possibility that we will see above-average snowfall.
That makes Mark Ockerbloom and his snow blower very happy.
