I'm already over the cold and it's dropped below freezing maybe a handful of times so far in Rochester, MN. I'm definitely excited about the brief warm-up we're getting this weekend. But NOAA has updated their prediction for this winter and... well... it's not looking great.

In what I'm pretty sure was the first winter prediction released for this year, the Farmer's Almanac named our area the 'Hibernation Zone' for this winter and says we'll have lots of snow.

Winter Prediction for Minnesota 2022

Now, this updated prediction from NOAA (taking into account the latest effects from this year's La Nina) doesn't really mention snow totals. It does, however, mention how cold it's going to be. They say that we can expect to see below-average temperatures. This is the first year in a while that I don't have a garage parking spot so I'm not looking forward to waking up early in the morning and freezing my butt off in my car.

National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration
loading...
Get our free mobile app

NOAA also has updated their precipitation prediction. Not specifically how much snow we'll get, just precipitation in general. Their latest says that there's an equal chance for more precipitation than normal and less precipitation than normal. So we'll either be freezing while looking at brown grass or we'll be freezing while shoveling mountains of snow. Sweet.

National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration
loading...

If the fact that we hit freezing in October says anything, I'd say that these predictions are accurate, saying that it's going to be a cold winter this year.

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.

More From KQCL Power 96