Winter In Wisconsin: What La Niña Climate Pattern May Mean

WISCONSIN — A new winter outlook holds some potentially bad news for Wisconsin residents who are bracing for dramatically higher heating bills this season.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s U.S. Winter Outlook for December through February, it looks like Wisconsin is leaning toward having colder temperatures than average.

Adding to that, much of the Badger State may be seeing more precipitation than normal this winter. That might be good if you're aching to hit the slopes, but it's probably bad if your back still hasn't recovered from the last shoveling season.

Behind the predictions is the third consecutive winter that a La Niña climate pattern is driving warmer temperatures for the Southwest, Gulf Coast and Eastern Seabord, according to NOAA. That translates into below-normal temperatures from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Northwest and out along the Alaskan Panhandle.

Related: Winter Heating Costs Spike: How Much More Will WI Residents Pay?

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.

Wisconsin, however, is largely exempt from the drought conditions. The predictions call for wetter-than-average conditions for areas of the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes, northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest.