Skiing, sledding, snowboarding, and skating are a big part of every winter in New England. But whether we can pull on our snow pants or leave them in the closet depends on the weather. Most importantly, it depends on the piling snow and the freezing temperature. 

Will we have to shovel out snow from the driveway or be able to sled down the backyard hill? As the temperatures drop and the Christmas lights go up, there’s one question that’s on all our minds. How much will it snow?

If there’s one thing we all can know for sure about New England weather, it’s that it’s unpredictable. But we can try to glimpse into the future using weather patterns. 

There are many factors that play into what our winter weather will be. One of the most important is El Nino, or La Nina. 

According to www.whsv.com, the El Nino, or La Nina is always around. It just changes position or intensity every year. 

Simply put, an El Nino or a La Nina is an abnormal weather pattern due to the warming of the Pacific Ocean. The sun warms the water near the equator causing more clouds and more rain. 

When the Pacific Ocean is warmer than usual, it’s an El Nino. When it’s cooler than usual, it’s La Nina. According to wwlp.com, an El Nino leads to warmer and drier conditions for the northeast, and a La Nina leads to cooler and wetter conditions. 

According to www.whsv.com, we have a La Nina this year, and it will only weaken near the end of winter, or early spring. La Nina’s effect in the northwest is the strongest, but some cold outbreaks occur in the northeast as well. 

If the La Nina is weaker, we may have a colder and snowier winter. But if it’s stronger, we may have less snow than usual. 

The exact force of the La Nina is unsure, but many are predicting a stronger La Nina and a winter with warmer than usual temperatures and around the usual precipitation. 

If it slows down by the end of the winter, we may get some unexpected snow.

We can’t know exactly for sure what this winter will look like without knowing the exact storms that will come or the exact amount of snow that will fall. But whatever this winter turns out to be, I’m sure we’ll be prepared!