Rich Kinney is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Davenport. During a webinar on Wednesday, he discussed how strong, El Niño conditions may affect eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois.
"When we take a look at climate studies, and some of those locally for just our area in particular, past El Niño winters would suggest a milder than normal winter and not a particularly snowy winter."
All National Weather Service offices across the country have changed the criteria meteorologists use to issue winter weather alerts. Kinney says it'll help forecasters be more consistent, realistic, and flexible.
"It really behooves us to focus a lot on the impacts and what's actually happening out there and occasionally making adjustments to our headlines."
Earlier this week, Kinney also held an hour-long webinar for the weather service's partners in school, transportation, and public works.