Minnesota Is In For Yet Another Warm November

MINNESOTA — If you’re looking forward to the chillier air that is historically typical in November, you may have to get out of Minnesota.

An La Niña climate pattern was supposed to usher in colder, snowier weather more typical of winter. But that hasn't happened yet.

Fall temperatures have been warmer than the forecasters originally expected. In fact, some of the warmest November temperatures in the U.S. will be found in Minnesota.

The only places in the country expected to have near-normal November temperatures are Southern California and other parts of the desert Southwest. Predictions for unseasonably warm temperatures lingering into December come amid mounting concern that climate change is making summers hotter and extending the warm weather well into fall.

Earlier this fall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said they’re confident a La Niña to develop yet this winter, but doubt it will be a strong pattern associated with consistent cold weather and heavy snowfall or other precipitation.

El Niño and La Niña are opposite phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, a natural climate pattern that causes predictable changes in the tropical Pacific Ocean. They’re not the only factors in weather, but El Niño generally favors warmer, drier weather, while the opposite is true with a La Niña. Either can have an outsized effect during the winter months.

Forecasters originally expected a La Niña to develop late last winter, which turned out to be the warmest on record in the continental U.S. and worldwide.