{"id":8908,"date":"2025-10-08T11:50:52","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=8908"},"modified":"2025-10-08T11:50:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:50:52","slug":"snow-tornadoes-ice-warm-temps-what-will-our-weather-look-like-this-winter-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/snow-tornadoes-ice-warm-temps-what-will-our-weather-look-like-this-winter-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow? Tornadoes? Ice? Warm Temps? What will our weather look like this winter season?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>by Oliver Longenecker<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How often do you check the weather? Everyday? Occasionally? When you\u2019re figuring out what outfit to wear? To see if a practice or game will get canceled? Well, the vast majority of people don\u2019t check it at all. Now, depending on where you live, you may not need to; maybe it\u2019s always sunny and warm. Unfortunately, the weather is never always \u201cnormal\u201d here in Kentucky, and this upcoming winter season will be no different. So, what will the weather be like this winter? Based on recent data, weather patterns, a neutral \u201cLa Nina\u201d pattern, and historical data, here is how I think our winter season will look.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-1024x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8909\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-1024x1024.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image.jpeg 1320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a graph of how I predict our winter will look across the U.S.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Northwest<\/strong> will see cooler than average temperatures, and an increase in precipitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Southwest<\/strong> will see warmer than average temperatures, and an increase in dry\/drought conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Northeast<\/strong> and <strong>Upper Mid-West<\/strong> will experience much colder temperatures and an increase in snow and ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Southeast<\/strong> will experience warmer than average temperatures, along with increased precipitation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wait, there\u2019s one more region, the \u201c<strong>Battlezone<\/strong>.\u201d This area is our roller coaster. This area, which consists of the Ohio Valley and Mid-Mississippi River Valley, includes the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. But why this area? Why is it the Battlezone? Well, to put it simply, this area will act as the boundary between the Polar Vortex to the North, and the Pacific\/Gulf moisture to the South. This winter, we expect parts of the Polar Vortex to break through and bring cold\/arctic temperatures to the U.S. To the South, due to the neutral \u201cLa Nina\u201d pattern in the Pacific,&nbsp; warm and moist air will park itself over the mid to lower 48. It\u2019s where these two air masses meet, is where the battle takes place. What do I mean by battle? More intense severe weather, tornadoes, damaging winds, and flash flooding.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Traditionally, in past winter seasons, we\u2019ve seen both little, and large dips in the \u201cJet Stream\u201d where cold air dips south, while warm\/gulf air is pulled to the North, and where that boundary is, where we see severe weather and snow\/ice storms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This winter, that boundary, instead of being in the form of what\u2019s traditionally known as a vertically tilted \u201cTrough,\u201d&nbsp; will be slightly more horizontal, acting more like a wall. However, there could be some moments where the dip in the jet stream could be powerful enough to become a negatively tilted trough, meaning more powerful storms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXdx5Apih8crLyyliiw76iyK1ShynMscowHjcx64CuH2kQOwmoMUHeb_UdS-oawkAyzyjIpiwVGrSZ6XA8Ye05u2Y6G1oaRHh9sday_0ZTsJFEyNCVe_glm8ELdBt7AF1TKjBdGuBw?key=LcNzU8W08nnTnF6vmThQDQ\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXeMdPVlV1uKCtId1ZmcetFoAOPASO_MTQYKu_QVI_PR6qBzvXnt88_E-2JeMtA8N9zanwh4_YYNjeb1TTP5zwGh9MsiMtnmdKJKaTIeQnRk7IdPCSY5pdIL5DamdE6v7tqxR4Gp?key=LcNzU8W08nnTnF6vmThQDQ\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A traditional \u201cNegatively Tilted Trough\u201d boundary; The \u201cHorizontal Trough\u201d boundary<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, y\u2019all are probably wondering, does this mean more storms? Well, yes, quite a few actually. While we will see an increase in severe weather across Kentucky, we\u2019ll also see an increase in winter weather. Yes, that means snow and ice. Due to the way this boundary will be formed, some days could be cold with temps dipping down as low as into the teens\u201d while other days it could be sunny and fifty-sixty degrees which is quite warm for winter in Kentucky. It\u2019s the colder days that we could see increased chances for snow, while the warmer days will see increased chances for severe weather.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I say this not to make anyone scared or worried, but more to prepare everyone for what could happen. There is no changing the weather, if the ingredients are in place, there will be a severe weather or tornado outbreak, on the other hand, there could also be a big snow storm that drops inches of snow. The bottom line is, it\u2019s still too early to tell. Regardless of what happens, this will be yet another bipolar winter for Kentucky!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Oliver Longenecker How often do you check the weather? Everyday? Occasionally? When you\u2019re figuring out what outfit to wear? To see if a practice or game will get canceled? Well, the vast majority of people don\u2019t check it at all. Now, depending on where you live, you may not need to; maybe it\u2019s always [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8910,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908\/revisions\/8910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}