NOAA Winter Outlook: What The 3rd La Niña Winter Means In YOUR STATE

NEW JERSEY — A new winter outlook holds some mixed news for Garden State residents, who are bracing for dramatically higher heating bills.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s U.S. Winter Outlook for December through February, it looks like New Jersey will see a higher than average temperatures, paired with an average amount of precipitation.

So does that mean more rain and less snow, or just more icy conditions and wintry mix? Experts say that could depend on elevation.

A La Niña climate pattern returning for the third consecutive winter is driving warmer-than-average temperatures for the Southwest and along the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard, according to the outlook.

Below-normal temperatures are favored from the Pacific Northwest eastward to the western Great Lakes and the Alaska Panhandle.

• Related: Sharp Increases In Home Heating Costs Expected This Winter

Drought conditions are present across about 60 percent of the country, and the La Niña climate pattern may extend the drought to the Gulf Coast, Jon Gottschalck, of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, said in a news release. Parts of the western U.S. and southern Great Plains will be the hardest hit by the dry weather, he said.

The predictions call for wetter-than-average conditions for areas of the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes, northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest.