Viewing post #908337 by fiwit

flaflwrgrl said:
And what exactly did he mean by wintry battle zone?????

Region 7) This is the zone that you’re going to want to be under if you prefer a variety of wintry weather, however there are some uncertainties that I’ll need to explain. During the majority of most moderate to strong El Niños, the southern jet stream (the sub-tropical jet) becomes much more active and transports more moisture into Texas and eastward into the Southeast/along parts of the East Coast. The big wildcard usually becomes how much cold, Arctic air will be available.

With that said, some of the most remarkable winter events in this zone have occurred when the temperatures overall for the entire winter were just marginal. I’m really leaning towards this being a colder than average winter across much of this zone with those chances increasing the farther east one is. El Niños usually bring about cooler than average conditions across this area during the winter because of more precipitation and clouds, but I do believe some major intrusions of Arctic air could push into this area, especially later in the winter. I will further expound upon my reasoning next Sunday, but the overview discussion at the beginning of this article give you a basic idea of my reasoning.

The ice storm threat will be greater for the southern regions in this zone including places like Atlanta and Birmingham, and almost all of these areas have a decent shot at getting above average snowfall. In fact, some locations in this zone (not all) could end up with well above average snowfall. As always, not everyone in this zone will get the snow they want, but the chances are once again higher than average for a more active winter.