IRON MOUNTAIN — Forecasters expect plenty of temperature swings in the months ahead, with the odds slightly favoring a colder and snowier winter than normal in the Upper Peninsula.

“Temperatures are expected to be highly variable along and north of the 40th parallel this winter, which is typical during La Nina,” said National Weather Service forecaster Brad Pugh. With those variations, above-average precipitation might also occur in the Great Lakes region, Pugh said.

La Nina is a climate pattern characterized by cooler-than-normal ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. La Nina sometimes brings cooler and wetter winters to the northern Midwest — or above the 40th parallel that extends through central Illinois.

The Climate Prediction Center sees a

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