Winter Weather Experts Issue Warning About 'Major Force' Driving 15.7 Inch Snowfall

Winter weather experts are warning that a "major force" driving snowfall records means the harsh weather is here to stay for some time.

It's called La Niña. The scientists with the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center warned on December 11, "La Niña is favored to continue for the next month or two." The center wrote that La Niña's effects are expected to continue from December 2025 through February 2026. But what is La Niña, and what weather will it bring?

"La Nina refers to the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific," The National Weather Service explains. "Typically, La Nina events occur every 3 to 5 years or so, but on occasion can occur over successive years.  La Nina represents the cool phase of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. "

The Phenomenon Leads to an 'Unusually Snowy Season' in Some Areas of the U.S.

According to USA Today, the experts believe it's possible the weather phenomenon will "linger" through spring. "La Niña that began in October will continue shaping U.S. winter weather through the 2025‑2026 season, bringing drier conditions to the south, wetter and snowier weather to the north," USA Today reported.

Meanwhile, snow continues to fall, and temperatures remain frigid in areas around the Great Lakes and in the U.S. Northeast. One community, Perrysburg, NY, had 15.7 inches of snow in 24 hours, according to The National Weather Service's December 11 snowfall totals. Other communities in New York and Vermont reported 12-13 inches, as snow continued to whallop the American Northeast.

How does La Nina affect snowfall? Its presence "likely translates to a continued unusually snowy season for the Northwest, northern Rockies, the Great Lakes, and the interior Northeast," USA Today reported. The polar vortex breaking is also a factor in the bad weather.

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What Is La Nina?

What is La Nina more specifically? According to the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, La Niña "is a weather pattern that occurs in the Pacific Ocean. In this pattern, strong winds blow warm water at the ocean’s surface from South America to Indonesia. As the warm water moves west, cold water from the deep rises to the surface near the coast of South America."

• La Nina "episodes in the winter months feature a wave-like jet stream flow across the United States and Canada, which causes colder and stormier than average conditions across the North, and warmer and less stormier conditions across the south," the National Weather Service says. "Historically for this part of the Midwest, fall tends to be warmer and drier than normal while winters tend to be wetter than normal."
• It's not always present. La Niña, like El Niño, "is a weather pattern that can occur in the Pacific Ocean every few years. In a normal year, winds along the equator push warm water westward," the agency's website says. "Warm water at the surface of the ocean blows from South America to Indonesia. As the warm water moves west, cold water from the deep rises up to the surface. This cold water ends up on the coast of South America."

The strong winds when this phenomenon is present cool the ocean slightly, and that "can affect weather all over the world," the agency says. These changes involve more than cold or wind, but also the possibility of tropical storms and lightning in some places around the globe.

"The latest CPC seasonal outlooks shows La Niña's telltale influence on precipitation anomalies through at least February-April," CPC climate scientist Michelle L'Heureux told USA Today.

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