Lincoln could see more snow than last winter while still falling short of a particularly snowy season, according to climatologist Dr. Ken Dewey. Speaking Thursday on KLIN’s Drive Time Lincoln, Dewey said his outlook favors a warmer-than-normal winter with occasional blasts of cold air. “It might be a snowier winter than last winter, which isn’t saying much, is it?” Dewey said. “But it’s still not going to be an excessively snowy winter from all that we’re looking at.”
Dewey said El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean are influencing his outlook. While individual El Niño winters differ, he expects a pattern that favors wetter weather across the southern United States and limits the Gulf moisture available for Nebraska snowstorms.
He cautioned that a mild seasonal outlook does not rule out periods of extreme cold. However, he expects snow cover to disappear relatively quickly between storms. “The snows will come, but they’ll go away rapidly,” Dewey said.
Closer to home, Dewey said Thursday that most computer models were bringing the bulk of an approaching rain system through before Saturday evening’s football game and Halloween activities. A few showers could linger, but he said the timing looked more favorable for evening plans than an earlier kickoff. “Now, that’s not to say there couldn’t be some errant showers, but not the heavy rain and the thunderstorms that may occur way earlier on,” he said.
Dewey expected Halloween temperatures to be near or slightly above normal. He contrasted that outlook with Halloween 1991, when freezing precipitation and bitter cold made travel hazardous in Lincoln.
The approaching weekend follows an unusually warm fall that Dewey said diminished the city’s autumn colors. Heat and dry conditions reduced the vibrancy of the leaves, while windy days quickly stripped many yellow leaves from trees. “We’re past the peak, and the rain the next couple days probably will knock off a lot more of the leaves,” Dewey said.
Dewey also said residents can stop watering their lawns as grass goes dormant, citing moisture already in the soil. He encouraged homeowners to prepare sprinkler systems for winter before colder weather arrives. “The lawns are going dormant. There’s plenty of moisture in the soil,” Dewey said. “And you’re just kind of wasting water and money, actually.”
Dewey’s local weather information and fall foliage photo galleries are available at LincolnWeather.unl.edu.