Ah yes, it’s mid October, and many Minnesotans are biting their nails asking the age-old question: "what will the winter be like?" Even though, we all know, no one can truly predict our winters accurately.

You have have seen or will see, broad-brushed interpretations of implications for our winter based on another La Niña winter. Each season, I have to debunk these. First of all, yes, we’re officially in La Niña again, just like last winter and just like 3 of the past 4 winters.

And just like last year, this is a weak La Niña episode.

A reminder, La Niña conditions are the opposite of El Niño. La Niña is observed when the equatorial waters off the west coast of South America are cooler than normal. El Niño is the opposite.

In very broad terms, La Niña generally means warm, dry conditio

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