Don't look now, but a La Niña watch has been issued by NOAA. Odds favor a rapid transition from El Niño to a cool phase of the Pacific that correlates with more robust Minnesota winters. It's a fairly safe bet it'll snow more next winter.
In the meantime, El Niño is slowly fading but hanging on long enough for an early spring. Longer-range models hint at an extra-hot summer. As La Niña kicks in, I'm concerned about drought intensifying again in the coming months, and a longer and stronger hurricane season. Wild cards include summer smoke, which depends on the location of late-spring heat waves.
Today's southern storm brushes La Crosse, Wis., and Winona with a little sleet, but a dry sky lingers over the rest of Minnesota into most of next week. Low 40s and sunshine today and Saturday give way to 50 on Sunday and low 60s Monday through Wednesday. Rain Thursday followed by a clipper pushes chilly air back into town for the third week of March. By "chilly," I mean 30s and low 40s. No polar vortex brewing. Good times.
