New Long-Range Connecticut Winter 2016 Forecast Released

Written by Tom Davis and Brian McCready

Remember that big, metal shovel you bought last year that broke after pushing tons of heavy snow out of your driveway?

You may not need to replace it. Or maybe you can go with a lighter model.

Brutal cold came to the northeastern United States last winter, and we had seven straight weekends of snowstorms in Connecticut. Blizzard warnings were issued twice for parts of the state last winter.

A Milder Winter?

But if forecasters are to be believed, this season is set to be milder overall, particularly during the early part of the season.

“We just don’t know exactly yet whether or not we’re going to see the pattern turn cold and snowy,” AccuWeather Expert Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok said in a release. “There is an opportunity that [the weather] could change on us as we get into February and early March.”

AccuWeather’s prediction, which came in the form of a news release Wednesday, directly contradicts what the Farmers’ Almanac had to say just a month ago. The Almanac predicted a “snowy and bitter” cold winter for Connecticut in 2016.

What the Farmers’ Almanac Predicts

Specifically, the Farmers’ Almanac wrote this about Connecticut and the Northeast this winter:

“Over the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States, the winter will be stormy with a good amount of snow. We are ’red-flagging’ the second week of January and the second week of February for possible heavy winter weather with a long, drawn-out spell of stormy weather extending through much of the first half of March. So sharpen those skis and boards, because the eastern slopes look like the ideal places to carve some turns.”

But AccuWeather predicts that the Northeast and mid-Atlantic can expect fewer days of subzero temperatures than last year.

February 2015 was the coldest February on record for Connecticut in the greater Hartford area. Farther west, in the Great Lakes region, a lack of arctic air for much of the early and midwinter will lead to a weak lake-effect season, causing snowfall and precipitation totals to fall below normal, AccuWeather predicts.

Upstate New York and northern New England are not in the clear, however, as rain events along the coast early in the season can translate to snow in the higher elevations, according to AccuWeather.

Photo Credit: AccuWeather.com