The Farmers’ Almanac has released its winter forecast, predicting a wet and stormy season ahead for eastern North Carolina.
A strengthening El Niño climate pattern will act as a major weather engine over the southern United States this year. For eastern North Carolina, this means an active and highly erratic storm track.
The publication predicts "cool" temperatures across the region, but warns that periodic surges of bitter cold air dropping down from the north will trigger severe, raw storms.
While coastal zones will primarily see heavy rain and mud, any direct collision between that heavy southern moisture and northern cold fronts could unleash sudden wintry mixes of sleet, ice, and slushy snow right across the eastern plains.
Meteorologists from the National Weather Service agree that El Niño heavily favors above-average precipitation for the Carolinas, providing a boost to local drought relief but raising the risk of localized flooding if storms hit too close together. However, the agency's official long-range models diverge slightly on temperature, favoring above-normal averages for the East Coast over the long term, though individual, intense cold snaps and sudden winter storms remain entirely possible.
Meteorological winter begins December first.
