On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the Winter 2012/2013 Outlook. The outlook is a three month forecast which explains that dryer-than-average conditions are expected in Nebraska. Areas impacted by the drought are believed to experience no relief this winter.

Signs indicating that an El Niño was developing had suddenly vanished, forecasters from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center say this year’s prediction was a challenge and the winter forecast is more uncertain than in the past year due to vanishing signs of the developing El Niño.

According to the NOAA, “When El Niño is present, warmer ocean water in the equatorial Pacific shifts the patterns of tropical rainfall that in turn influence the strength and position of the jetstream and storms over the Pacific Ocean and United States. This climate pattern gives seasonal forecasters confidence in how the U.S. winter will unfold. An El Niño watch remains in effect because there’s still a window for it to emerge.”

Forecasters with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center say a wavering El Niño, expected to have developed by now, makes this year’s winter outlook less certain than previous years.

Though dryer-than-average conditions are expected, snowfall accumulations and winter storm predictions aren’t reflected in the outlook because factors like snowfall cannot be predicted more than a week in advance.

A forecast has been developed for North Platte’s climate in the coming months which shows temperatures dropping in November and December.