It’s shaping up to be a brown or grey Christmas for Wisconsin: A strong El Niño weather pattern means it’s raining rather than snowing across the state.
El Niño is a climatic cycle that pushes warm air from the South Pacific up north. So far this year, it’s meant little, if any, snow in much of Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest.
Tasos Kallas, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Green Bay, noted that northern Minnesota communities like International Falls and Duluth only have about 5 inches of snow on the ground.
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“Usually, people are in the double digits easy this time of year,” he said.
Kallas says this year’s El Niño is more of a “blip” than a long-term warming trend. He said storms are still hitting the Upper Midwest, but that temperatures have risen to the point where snow isn’t falling.
Kallas also noted that the lack of snow won’t stop Santa’s sleigh: “Santa’s magic. He can land anywhere he wants,” he said.
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