While it may be depressing to think about, winter is right around the corner.  It seems almost everyone is bracing for a terrible winter with warnings of apocalyptic snowfalls and frigid temperatures that are allegedly supposed to be even colder than last winter’s record lows.  This forecast was put forth by the Farmers Almanac, a weather predicting publication that boasts of having a high success rate in predicting the weather  Their predictions for this winter state that this winter will bring below average temperatures for three fourths of the country with the coldest temperatures in the Northern Plains and Great Lakes. However this forecast of another very harsh winter may not end up being accurate.  Acting Director of the US Climate Prediction Center, Mike Halpert, told Cleveland.com’s John Funk that this winter will not be nearly as cold as last year’s.

“Last winter we saw a very recurrent pattern with cold air outbreaks, very persistent. At this point, there is nothing that indicates we will see a repeat of that.” he says adding that it is likely that cold air will enter the country, just not as consistently as it did last year.  Senior Accuweather Meteorologist Jack Boston seconds Halpert’s comments.

“I could see some air masses as cold as last year coming down into the nation, but they are not going to last,”   he told Funk. The uncertainty of the winter weather predictions rides on a phenomenon called El Nino which is a warming of the central pacific ocean. If this event occurs, it will most likely bring a much milder winter to the Great Lakes and Northeast Ohio.

As unpredictable as predicting the winter weather may be it seems as though there are a few things the experts can agree on when it comes to this winter’s forecast.  While the winter may not be as downright cold as last winter, it will still probably pack some punch, albeit much less consistent and probably less severe.  In addition, the pending El Nino could also alter the winter weather by making the upcoming months much milder and more tolerable.  However we can only hope that this winter is not a twin image of last year’s.   What will the winter weather actually hold for Northeastern Ohio in the months to come? Only mother nature knows the answer.