The past couple months have been warm and dry in San Diego. Given the overall state of the atmosphere and Pacific Ocean, I think this trend will continue through the winter of 2012-2013. Average rainfall during meteorological winter (December, January and February) is 5.78". I'm expecting 2 to 5". The average high temperature for December, January and February is 64.7, 65.1 and 65.0 respectively. I'm expecting average highs to hover 1 to 2 degrees above these values. It is important to remember that these are averages - there will still be cold rainy days this winter.
The areas to watch this year will be the Pacific Northwest for flooding rains, and the northern Ohio River Valley into New England for potentially heavy snow events. In addition, I'm expecting drought conditions to continue/worsen for the High Plains and parts of the northern Midwest. The Southeast could also see increasing drought conditions.
For my snow-loving friends in Richmond, there should be several chances for a big snow this winter. For this reason, I'm going for above-average total accumulations for December through February (9 to 14").
