Photo: NOAA National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center
(Des Moines, IA) -- The new long range winter outlook for Iowa has us moving to below-normal temperatures. Blame La Nina.
"Further south, coastal areas, it's gonna bring some warming there, but for us in the north we're going to see that cooler outlook for December through February," says National Weather Service Meteorologist Ashley Bury.
She tells WHO Radio News they consider a number of different factors to make their predictions.
"It's a combination of the La Nina as well as like looking into historical climatology," says Bury.
Bury says we'll continue to see up and down temperature swings this fall.
"There will definitely be some variation there so this is more like a general outlook into the winter," she says. "It's hard to say exactly what days are going to be warmer or colder, but at least overall it looks like it's going to be a colder winter.