Brace for another cold, snowy Tri-City winter

Remember last January when 15 inches of snow fell through the month, piling up about a foot deep in Kennewick?

When the high temperature in Pasco failed to get up to freezing for five days in February?

The unusually cold and snowy winter was courtesy of La Niña, and she may be back this winter, according to the National Weather Service.

With luck, she may not be as fierce.

The weather service is predicting a 40 percent chance that December through February will be colder than usual in the Tri-Cities.

At the same time, there will be a higher change of precipitation, said meteorologist Mike Murphy with the National Weather Service. Coupled with the cold air, that could mean more snow than usual.

The forecast sounds promising for the next irrigation season, with abundant snowfall predicted in the Cascades, according to AccuWeather.

“It’s a good area to head out to if you’re a big skier,” said Paul Pastelok, AccuWeather lead long-range forecaster.

A typical La Niña brings a blocking high pressure ridge over the gulf of Alaska. That sends the jet stream south from Alaska and Canada to blow arctic air over Washington.

At the same time, a Pacific jet stream comes over the Northwest, increasing the chance of precipitation, Murphy said.

La Niña winters can be slow to start, so there’s no hurry to prepare.

But the chances for stormy weather increases in late December through February, Murphy said.

Chances of the winter being as cold and snowy as last year are low. It would be very uncommon to have back-to-back winters that were that bad, Murphy said.

Elsewhere in the nation, La Niña is likely to bring colder than usual air across the northern United States from Washington to the Great Lakes, according to the weather service winter outlook.

The south can expect warmer than usual winter weather, particularly in Arizona and New Mexico.

The chance for more precipitation than usual also is predicted across the northern United States, with drier weather in the south, particularly in Florida.

This story was originally published October 26, 2017 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Brace for another cold, snowy Tri-City winter."