16 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JANUARY 2025
"Understanding the Weather" – A Series by Mel Zeldin, Retired Meteorologist
As of this writing, this past fall has seen near normal temperatures
and below normal rainfall. Looking forward to winter, the Climate
Prediction Center has rather similar projections for Southern
California for this winter.
For the temperature outlook, as shown in Figure 1, Southern
California is indicated to have equal chances of having above-
average or below-average temperatures. In other words, there are
no strong indications of patterns that would lead one condition to
prevail over the other.
For precipitation, as shown in Figure 2, indications are for slightly
drier than normal conditions to prevail. It is unusual to have both
fall and winter months be on the dry side, and having this occur this
year would be one of the more rare events in Southern California.
However, these projections are based on the latest sea surface and
atmospheric temperature patterns and as such, are indicators of the
future weather, but are not ironclad.
Winter 2025 Weather Outlook
Fig 1. Temperature outlook for winter 2025 Fig 2. Precipitation outlook for winter 2025
