AccuWeather Releases Forecast for 2020 Winter Across US

People walk up a closed road as snow continued to fall in Olympia, Wash., on Feb. 11, 2019. Rachel La Corte/AP Photo

Private weather forecasting website AccuWeather released its 2019-2020 winter predictions for the lower 48 states.

The long-range forecast includes “an active winter season will get underway for the northeastern United States.”

“Despite a few cold spells across the Northeast during autumn, winter’s chill won’t arrive until at least the end of 2019,” AccuWeather predicted about the Northeast. It added that above-normal snowfall could hit from New York City to Boston.

But the “Southeast, however, is more likely to be targeted by rain than wintry weather,” AccuWeather stated. It noted that the region could get a winter storm during winter.

There will also be enough snowfall in the mountains of California during the upcoming season that will help the state’s drought conditions during the spring, it said.

Pedestrians cross an icy Chicago River on Madison St. near the Civic Opera House in Chicago on Jan. 28, 2019. Rich Hein/Chicago Sun-Times via AP

“A normal season in terms of snowfall will also translate to decent ski conditions for resorts in California,” AccuWeather wrote, adding that in the Pacific Northwest, there will be drier conditions throughout the region

Across the Plains and Midwest, the “polar vortex” that hammered much of the East Coast will not return during the first portion of winter, AccuWeather said.

“The polar vortex is particularly strong this year, and that means that frigid air is likely to remain locked up over the polar region early in winter,” AccuWeather’s Paul Pastelok said on the website. AccuWeather’s map said there will be a ”mid-winter Arctic cold” that inundates the upper Midwest.

He predicted near- to below-normal snowfall across the northern Plains and near- to above-normal amounts for the central Plains.

In the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region, “Residents will want to stock up on shovels, as an above-normal season for snowfall is in the offing,” AccuWeather wrote.

Ben Jennings snow blows his driveway on Jan. 20, in Glenville, N.Y. AP Photo/Mary Esch

Earlier this month, the Old Farmer’s Almanac forecast that portions of the United States will see a “snow-verload” during what has been described as a snowy winter.

For instance, it is predicting a “wet and wild” 2019-20 winter in the northeastern U.S.

But overall, it is calling for “shivers, snowflakes … and strong storms” with the “snow-verload” impacting northern states in the Midwest and West.

“In the U.S., this winter will be remembered for strong storms bringing a steady roofbeat of heavy rain and sleet, not to mention piles of snow. The 2020 Old Farmer’s Almanac is calling for frequent snow events—from flurries to no fewer than seven big snowstorms from coast to coast, including two in April for the Intermountain region west of the Rockies,” it wrote on its website.

Meanwhile, the U.S. NOAA predicted that the entire United States will have warmer than average fall temperatures from October through December 2019.