The 2017-18 winter for the Billings, Montana region was one of the snowiest on record, but meteorologists say for those who are hoping to use their snow shovel and snow blower a little less this winter, they may be in luck.
The weather prognosticators predict an El Niño this winter with warmer waters in the Pacific Ocean for the next few months. And that is a good thing for those wanting a warmer and dryer winter, said Todd Chambers, meteorologist in the National Weather Service Billings office.
“That tends to favor warmer than average temperatures and below normal precipitation for the Northern Rockies,” Chambers said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t see not going to see any cold temperatures over the winter. It just means on average over that three to five month period--from November going into March-- we are going to see generally slightly above normal temperatures and slightly dryer conditions.”
Chambers says that will be markedly different from the wetter colder weather the Northern Rockies experienced last winter.
He was not alone in his prediction, as the 227th edition of the Old Farmer’s Almanac is also predicting a warmers and slightly drier winter for the region.
