As the summer season winds down, forecasters are already making predictions for the upcoming fall and winter, including the decline of temperatures due to a polar vortex.
Paul Pastelok, Accuweather's lead long-range forecaster, said the Great Lakes will experience the polar vortex, which will then move into the interior Northeast during the middle and end of September, according to MarketWatch.
"Temperatures [in the Northeast] will not be as extreme in November when compared to last year, but October could be an extreme month," Pastelok said on Accuweather's website.
The Northeast is also expected to get hit with some rain and early snow in November, as well as some big storms in December and January. Accuweather added that the northern Plains and northern Rockies could experience early snow and cold that may stretch to Chicago.
The Sierra and Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisc. are also expected to be hit with the cold, Accuweather reported. The western Rockies and the Sierra are expected to be worse off with the cold and snowy weather.
"The dryness in the West is going to hamper any early significant snowfall in the western Rockies from Lake Tahoe to Bend, Oregon," Pastelok said.
Accuweather also expects early snow to hit the Northeast, thanks to El Nino, in which warm surface water flows in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and changes patterns in temperature and rain, The Buffalo News reported.
Rain from a tropical system may hit Boston, New York City and other areas further up north on the east coast, along with more southern states from Florida to North Carolina, the area most likely to be hit by tropical storms this fall.
Rainfall above the normal level is expected to hit areas from New Orleans to Jackson, Mississippi, as well as Atlanta. Because this past spring experienced a large amount of rainfall, daily and possibly yearly records of rainfall can be broken in Pensacola, Flor. and other areas closer to the Southeastern coastline, Accuweather reported.
The region may also experience a secondary severe weather season from mid-October to November, with Pastelok saying the lower Mississippi Valley and the Gulf Coast will be the most vulnerable areas. The fall's late severe weather season could create strong thunderstorms that could bring tornadoes, and may also result in heavy rain, strong winds and flash-floods.
Despite the possible dangers, El Nino will bring moisture to communities in the Southwest, as well as in Texas. The autumn rain can be of great benefit to northwestern Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, which are currently experiencing rough drought conditions, Accuweather reported.
However, California, which has had a very dry summer, will not receive enough rainfall to ease its current drought situation, and this issue can affect water supply in the southern area of the state. Pastelok said Northern California will also suffer from the drought. A split in the jet stream, which is created from El Nino, will also cause the Northwestern region to stay very dry.
"We may see a split jet stream where one jet goes way up into western Canada and that will leave dryness across the Pacific Northwest compared to normal," Pastelok said.
Since the Northwest is expected to be warmer this fall, it will take a long time for the region to see any weakening of the wildfires burning thousands of acres in the region and forcing people to evacuate from their homes, Accuweather reported.
"There will be some relief, but it is going to be a gradual transformation, so it's going to take some time," Pastelok said. "The fire danger is going to still be severe into the early fall."
