Winter Forecast For Illinois 2019-20: Official Gov. Prediction

ILLINOIS — Winter is coming.

Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have released a winter forecast for 2019-20 that’s predicting mild winter weather for Illinois — but much wetter than usual.

Not a single section of the United States is expected to have colder than usual temperatures this winter, but some areas will experience more rain.

“Wetter than average conditions are most likely in Alaska and Hawaii this winter, along with portions of the Northern Plains, Upper Mississippi Valley, the Great Lakes and parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast,” the agency said in it 2019-20 winter forecast, which it released Thursday.

The government organization stays away from projecting seasonal snowfall accumulations as snow forecasts are generally impossible to predict until the week prior.

Even during a warmer than usual winter in Illinois, though, periods of cold and snowfall are still possible.

What do The Farmers’ Almanac and Old Farmer’s Almanac predict for the winter?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration isn’t the only organization that’s released a 2019-20 prediction, but consensus can be hard to find when it comes to weather.

Followers of the Farmers’ Almanac for instance, are bracing for a snowy, bone-chilling season. Meanwhile, forecasters at the rival Old Farmer’s Almanac are predicting more rain than snow.

The two meteorological publishers have almost identical names, but their long-range forecasts could not be more different.

• A "frozen, snowy" winter is in store for Illinois, according to the Farmers' Almanac, with "above normal precipitation.
• It will be "mild, with soakers" across Illinois and the Midwest, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.
• Meanwhile, AccuWeather says the "Siberian connection" will cause a frigid Illinois winter.

Both outfits use so-called “secret formulas” to predict the weather that they keep closely guarded, and only time — and winter — will tell which one has it right.