How much total snow is Massachusetts forecast to get this winter? The WBZ NEXT Weather team shares their prediction and a look at how this forecast compares to past winters. BOSTON - Last year, we started out our winter outlook by saying it couldn't possibly be more lame than the previous winter. Welp.
While the 2022-23 season produced 12.4 inches of snow, 2023-24 followed it up with a truly pathetic 9.8" of snow, the third least snowy ever recorded in Boston.
How does the forecast compare to past winters? It's been 1,000 days since Boston had a 4" snowfall, the longest stretch on record. I am still working off the same bucket of salt I bought in November of 2022. It's safe to say there's never been a weaker set of back-to-back winters .
They weren't just snowless but extremely mild (the fifth and seventh warmest on record). The outlook for a milder and less snowy than average winter certainly verified. So, we can't do that again, can we? Let's look at where the atmospheric variables stand heading into this winter, and what they may mean for the months ahead! We usually start out talking about the state of ENSO, the El Nino Southern Oscillation .
Last year we had a strong El Nino event which is just about guaranteed to produce a weak winter in Massachusetts. El Nino overpowered everything and panned out about as expected. This year there's a significant shift to La Nina conditions , meaning warmer than average water in the equatorial Pacific has switched to cooler than averag.