Farmers’ Almanac predicting an ‘unusually snowy’ winter in WA. Here’s the full forecast
With summer quickly giving way to fall, the Farmers’ Almanac published its long-range winter forecast for the United States in August.
Large parts of the western United States felt the brunt of Earth’s hottest July on record, and although Washington wasn’t breaking any records, temperatures still peaked above 90 degrees across the state on several occasions.
Farmers’ Almanac publishes its winter outlook with somewhat uncanny accuracy every year, using a secret formula known only by a single person under the pseudonym Caleb Weatherbee. The longtime weather forecasting website and publication claims that 80-85% of its forecasts are accurate.
Farmers’ Almanac’s 2022/23 winter weather forecast had an extremely high accuracy rate for whether a region would deviate from its regular winter precipitation but only a 39% accuracy rate on the average temperature. The organization noted that unusual weather patterns resulted in the low accuracy of its temperature forecast.
For the 2023/24 winter outlook, Washington is grouped in the Pacific Northwest region with Idaho and Oregon. Thanks to a particularly strong El Niño, Farmers’ Almanac predicts it’ll be an “unusually snowy and wet winter” for the Pacific Northwest.
For December through February, the Puget Sound region, from Bellingham down to Tacoma and Olympia, typically average 15.66 inches of precipitation. Meanwhile, the much-drier eastern Washington, such as around the Tri-Cities area, picks up just 2.81 inches of precipitation — 1 inch of precipitation is equal to about 13 inches of snowfall, according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory.
Temperature-wise, the Farmers’ Almanac says that the Pacific Northwest will be “seasonably cold,” with particular attention toward a pair of storms in the second week of January and the first week of February that could be “stormy, snowy and wet.”
“Seasonably cold” for Puget Sound means the region will see high temperatures range between 47 and 51 degrees while the Tri-Cities region will be a bit cooler with high temperatures between 40 and 48 degrees.
Nationwide winter weather outlook
One of the more significant winter storms of the season is expected later in the season when blizzards could sweep over the north central states — such as Minnesota and Wisconsin — in the first week of March, according to the almanac.
The East Coast will also likely see more snow than last year. Those living along the Interstate 95 corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston should see plenty of precipitation from sleet and snowstorms this winter.
Winter will release its icy grip in late March, but not without a fight. Farmers’ Almanac experts say there will be temperature swings throughout the month before stormy weather across the country in late March takes us into spring.
This story was originally published August 7, 2023 at 11:42 AM.
