How the Incoming La Niña Could Affect Minnesota’s Winter This Year

Talks of a La Niña have been going around for a little while, but now experts are getting a better idea of when they believe the La Niña will hit the US. They also have predictions for how it could affect our winter in Minnesota this year.

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El Niño is Over

Over the past year, we were dealing with an El Niño, which brought warmer than usual and drier than usual weather.

Climate.gov writes that El Niño took effect in May 2023 and officially was gone as of June 2024. So right now we're in a limbo period.

There's usually a gap between El Niño's and La Niña's, but every once in a while we get them pretty close to one another, which is what's happening this year.

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What is a La Niña?

La Niña, as the National Weather Service writes, "refers to the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific."

As the surface temperature of the ocean cools, it brings that cool air around the world and has an effect on our weather, even in Minnesota.

When La Niña Will Arrive in the US

Early on, experts were predicting that the US would see the effects of La Niña sometime between August and October. Now, their updated predictions say it'll likely be between September and November.

So this cooling effect from the ocean will hit Minnesota just in time for winter.

What a La Niña Means for Minnesota's Winter

Based on predictions that have been made, it's very possible that we'll see a pretty cold winter this year. It also looks like, according to NOAA's map, there could be a chance for a wetter winter.

Colder + wetter = probably lots of snow. Who knows, maybe we'll even see another Polar Vortex. We'll have to see as we get closer to winter to see what becomes of these predictions.

After reading that, you might being considering a move. Here are the top states where Minnesotans are moving to the most.