Maryland Winter Forecast: Mild But Wet, Government Predicts

MARYLAND — Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have released a winter forecast for 2019-20 that’s predicting a warmer, wetter season for Maryland. In fact, its forecasters are predicting a warmer winter nationwide — not a single section of the United States is expected to have colder-than-usual temperatures this winter, according to the agency.

But even during a warmer winter in Maryland, periods of cold and snowfall are still possible.

The government organization stays away from projecting seasonal snowfall accumulations, stating that snow forecasts are generally impossible to predict until the week before the snow arrives.

With milder temperatures, forecasters are anticipating more precipitation.

"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 National Weather Service said in it 2019-20 winter forecast, which it released Thursday.

Drought conditions are likely to improve in the mid-Atlantic, southeast, Alaska and Hawaii, but the dry spell will continue for central Texas and the Southwest.

Comparing Winter Forecasts: Farmers' And Old Farmer's Almanacs

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.

The Farmers' Almanac, which released its prediction on Aug. 26, expects colder-than-normal temperatures and a lot of snow, with the frostiest snap coming during the last week of January and stretching into February, and winter weather lasting into April.

But the Old Farmer's Almanac, which also unveiled its forecast in August, expects the Northeast to be wet and warmer than normal. "The middle of the country and New England can bank on a slush fund as 'more wet than white' conditions will leave sludgy messes that freeze during the overnights," its forecast says.

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.

SEE ALSO:

• Farmers' Almanac: 'Frosty And Wet' Maryland Winter Forecast
• Stormier Winter Predicted For Maryland: AccuWeather Forecast

— By Gus Saltonstall, Deb Belt and Elizabeth Janney

Graphics courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.