As November is approaching, the fall season is in full swing, but December is peeking around the corner along with the New England winter.
John Palmer, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service of Grey, Maine, gave his forecast about what the students at Keene State should be expecting this winter.
“Generally speaking, we are looking at above-average temperatures, and possibly slightly above-average precipitation,” Palmer said.
However, according to the Farmers’ Almanac, New England should actually be experiencing colder weather and average to above-average snowfall.
“To be totally honest with you, the Farmer’s Almanac is really not scientifically sound. The Groundhog, the Farmers’ Almanac, a lot of these are really anecdotal types of forecasts that have been around forever,” Palmer said. “I would take the Farmers’ Almanac with a grain of salt.”
The 2023-2024 winter is going to be the first winter in an El Niño period. The earth has been in a La Niña period for the past three years, according to NASA’s website. “An El Niño is when those sea surface temperatures are above average,” Palmer explained. “We were in a La Niña last winter which is the opposite, which is when the waters in the equatorial Pacific are cooler than average.”
What does this mean for this winter? “When we have warmer-than-average waters in the equatorial Pacific, that alters the jet stream; so when we have an El Niño we tend to have warmer winters in the Northeast; however, there are a lot of different factors that go into how warm or cool the winter is in the US,” Palmer said.
Four students were asked in a survey-type interview whether they enjoyed the fall or winter season more. Three of the students answered fall, while only one answered winter. “I really like the aesthetic of fall, I think it’s a great time of year especially in New Hampshire … but I think the winter sports here are great,” Sam Johnson said.
The other students said they preferred fall to winter. “I just like the energy that’s in the air for fall, you get to get cozy and it brings people closer together and it has a good aesthetic,” Senior Hannah Showalter explained.
Senior Lydia Wright said, “I love fall because of the changing of the leaves and just the crispness of the air, there’s something different about it, and because I can wear comfy clothes.”
First-year Owen Babcock said, “I just don’t like winter because it’s so cold.”
Molly Lu McKellar can be contacted
at mmckellar@kscequinox.com
Zach Keenan can be contacted at
zkeenan@kscequinox.com
