Snowy winter ahead for Rockies and Northeastern US, Accuweather says

Reuters: Snow lovers living in the U.S. Northeast and Rocky Mountains are going to love this coming winter, according to AccuWeather.com. The private weather forecasting firm released its long-range winter forecast on Wednesday, highlighting its predictions for temperature and precipitation trends.

While much of the northern part of the country, stretching from Wisconsin to eastern Washington, will see below-normal snowfall, Accuweather.com said the coming winter will be marked by plenty of big storms in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. The firm's meteorologists are also predicting an early start to the winter season, with above-normal snowfall and below-normal temperatures, in the central and southern Rockies.

Temperatures in the Northeast may start out slightly warmer than normal, the forecasting firm said, but would drop as the season progresses and snow accumulates. In the Midwest, where the worst drought in 50 years hurt crops this year, Accuweather.com said snowfall levels would fall short of normal levels again this winter.

Temperatures may start out slightly above to near normal in the region, but as the season progresses and some snow accumulates, it will turn colder than normal by February. The Gulf Coast and Southeast meanwhile are expected to have a wet winter, with above-normal precipitation, Accuweather.com said, bringing some relief to the parched Southern Plains and Texas....

Minnesota in December of 2010, shot by Michael Hicks, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license