Will La Niña Blanket Illinois In Snow This Winter?

Are you already dreading winter's arrival in Illinois?  If that answer is yes, you definitely won't like what the National Weather Service is predicting for the start of winter in Illinois.

Illinois 2025/2026 Winter Predictions

The calendar hasn't even flipped to fall yet, but many Illinois residents are already suffering from the winter dreads.

Are the below-average temperatures we've been experiencing in Illinois a preview for a much cooler winter ahead? Not necessarily.

The Farmers' Almanac is summarizing the winter of 2025/2026 with three words: "Chill, Snow, Repeat":

The season officially begins with the winter solstice on December 21, 2025, but the cold and snow might make an appearance as early as September in some areas of the country.

If you dislike snow, this prediction sounds very unappealing, but wait, it might have just gotten worse.

Will La Niña Bring A Lot of Snow to Illinois?

It may be several more weeks before the NOAA Climate Prediction Center issues their official predictions for winter 2025/2026, but they did release this Seasonal Precipitation Outlook:

For those of us living in Northern Illinois, this precipitation outlook doesn't look terrible, but it definitely doesn't look great for the eastern and southern parts of the state.

So, what do we have to blame for the above average snow potential? La Niña, according to the National Weather Service.

What Is La Niña?

Simply put, La Niña is the cool sibling of El Niño in the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle.

During La Niña, sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific dip below average, which shifts global weather patterns and typically brings warmer, wetter conditions. For winter in a good chuck of Illinois this year that means more snow and winter storms.

So, are you gleefully gassing up the snowmobiles or painstakingly ordering new snow boots? I'll let you decide.