New 30-Day Outlook: Mild January? Christmas Eve snow chance?

Folks wondering where winter is in Minnesota this year may be waiting a bit longer.

NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) released it's new 30-day outlook for January today. The outlook features a major shift in thinking from previous outlooks for winter in the Upper Midwest.

The January outlook now favors chances for a warmer than average January in Minnesota and the eastern half of the USA.

Political Coverage Powered by You

Your gift today creates a more connected Minnesota. MPR News is your trusted resource for election coverage, reporting and breaking news. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.

The outlook is a major change form the colder than average predictions by NOAA and other private forecasters within the last month.

A persistent milder than average December weather pattern and shifts in the tropical Pacific Ocean are likely driving the changes.

As I talked about earlier this week, La Nina shows signs of fading in the Pacific. The weaker La Nina episode this year has not produced the same atmospheric circulation patterns as last year's event that produced a vigorous winter in the Upper Midwest and eastern USA.

Here at the MPR Weather Lab, I'm not sure whether to totally but into the new CPC outlook yet. I'm seeing a potential pattern emerge that could drive some much colder air down into Minnesota from Canada around or after January 1st.

The dreaded "Polar Vortex" shows signs it may migrate southward to near Hudson Bay by early January. If that happens, it will drove down brutally cold arctic air masses into Minnesota.

Could the "Polar Vortex" setting up over Hudson's Bay around New Year's Eve deliver an arctic outbreak in early January?

Stay tuned... while the rest of December looks milder than average overall, there could be an arctic outbreak in our future.

Ray of hope for saving a "White Christmas?"

This week I've talked about a 70% chance of having a "Brown Christmas" in the metro and much of western and southern Minnesota.

I'm not ready to go any higher than that yet....and 30% is still hanging tough today.

The GFS has been hinting at a possible snow system headed for the Upper Midwest in the days just before Christmas. The latest version paints a low pressure system emerging from the southwest and tracking into the Midwest on Christmas Eve.

If it verifies, this could potentially "save" a White Christmas from the metro into southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa, and much of Wisconsin.

The latest GFS model run is printing out .33" of precip on Christmas Eve at MSP Airport, with temps cold enough for all snow. If that scenario were to pan out (and it's a long way off) it could be 3" to 4" of snow in the metro, with heavier snow in southeast Minnesota.

Just as likely though, the system could completely miss us to the south.

Stay tuned....Santa may still have a little "Christmas Weather Magic" in his stocking for Minnesotans who want a white Christmas!

PH