Typical of a La Nina climate, the Northwest U.S./Southwest Canada to North-central U.S. are usually the first winter targets for cold and snow. The NOAA/CPC risk of heavy snow ALERT for the last week of November indicates heavy snow risk for the Continental Divide and North-central U.S. likely to sustain following cold.

The approach of December brings developing and widening Great Plains snow cover, a mostly drier than normal to above normal rainfall pattern change in Brazil, and arrival of snowfall across the bare ground in the northern half of Europe.

The outlook valid through FEB-26 includes a stormy winter across the Northern U.S. while the southern portion of the U.S. is dry. In South America, dryness generates in Northeast Argentina/Southeast Brazil plus Northeast Brazil. Wet weather is likely for northwestern South America.

Typhoon Fung-Wong peak intensity was 943 MB supporting a category-4 typhoon east of the Philippines. Does heat release from weakening Fung-Wong influence the polar climate mid-to-late November? Partially, but with significant help from warming over Greenland already in-place due to effects from Category-5 Major Hurricane Melissa (892 MB). Gradually, the polar region high pressure block expands and causes a cold trough in the U.S. for December.