Closing the book on meteorological fall, looking ahead to meteorological winter

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - The winter solstice, on December 21st, marks the beginning of astronomical winter on our calendars, but in the meteorological world, December 1st marks the beginning of the winter season. We break down the calendar just a little differently in the weather world, allowing us to break the seasons down based on annual temperature cycles. So, as we begin December, we pause to take a look back at what November and meteorological fall held for us in Lincoln and take a peek ahead to what December and meteorological winter may hold for us.

Overall, the meteorological fall season in Lincoln was marked by mild and dry weather. The very warm September, tied for the 16th warmest on record for Lincoln, carried us to the 36th warmest fall season on record. In total, the average temperature for the three months of September, October, and November averaged out to 55.0°, good for 1.4° above normal. November was the only of the three months to have below average temperatures, and that in part was due to our low temperatures averaging out almost 3.5° below normal.

It was a very dry three month stretch - not only for us in Lincoln, but for much of the state - as we’ve seen drought conditions continue to expand across the region. In total, we saw only 1.84″ of precipitation through meteorological fall, which is over four inches below normal and good for the 5th driest fall season on record, with those records dating back to 1887 in Lincoln.

We only saw a trace of snow in November, and through the end of November, we are about 2.5″ below normal for snowfall in Lincoln.

Looking ahead to December and meteorological winter, colder and likely more snowy weather is in store for us in Lincoln and across the state. Average high temperatures through December will fall from the mid 40s to start the month to the mid 30s by the end of December. Average lows will fall to the mid teens by December 31st. Average highs and lows will hold steady through January before beginning to rise a few degrees through the month of February. In terms of snow, December, January, and February average just under 20″ of snow in Lincoln - our snowiest three months of the year. So while we’re expecting to see more snow over the next few weeks and months, it’s no guarantee. Last season, we only saw 5.4″ of snow through meteorological winter. The season before though in 2020-2021, we saw 38″ of snow through that three month stretch!

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