Farmer’s Almanac Now Says Illinois in for ‘Wet Winter Whirlwind’

Something has changed over the span of a couple weeks. Unless my memory has failed me, Illinois was included in an area Farmer's Almanac said that along with Missouri was in for a more or less ordinary winter. Now, the Land of Lincoln has a forecast described as a 'wet winter whirlwind'.

I've had to go back and look at my notes because I could have sworn that Illinois had a similar outlook as Missouri this winter, but it could be that I'm confusing the "new" Farmer's Almanac vs the "old" Farmer's Almanac. This one is completely different (and a bit more dire) for Illinois than I recall.

This is the graphic that Farmer's Almanac shared about the upcoming 2024/2025 winter forecast. Notice that Illinois is now in the "cold, wet and white" area while Missouri is not.

They say that the "wet winter whirlwind" for Illinois will be caused by La Niña conditions. Perhaps the change in forecast is due to what appears to be those conditions accelerating more than expected.

They also point to the last week of January 2025 into the first week of February as being the most likely time for a huge arctic blast impacting Illinois. That's not really unusual, but the inference that this could be characteristic of the entire winter would be surprising.