2016-2017 Winter Temperature Forecast
Editor’s Note: While Blue Hill Observatory does not issue forecasts and does not endorse this forecast, we thought our readers would enjoy hearing what a local seasonal forecaster is predicting. Judah Cohen is a scientist who specializes in seasonal forecasting at Atmospheric and Environmental Research in Lexington, MA.
Using a model that considers Siberian snow cover, surface pressure and Arctic sea ice anomalies and other factors (Cohen and Fletcher, 2007), the AER seasonal temperature forecast for Winter 2016-2017 (see graphic) is for an expansive area of colder than average conditions over much of northern and eastern North America with above average temperature in the southwestern United States and eastern Canada. Click here to visit the web site for this NSF-sponsored research and to read the rest of Cohen’s seasonal forecast discussion for North America.
A more in-depth discussion of the dynamical and surface processes that contribute to this forecast is available in the Arctic Oscillation blog, which is updated periodically.