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Volatile winter weather sets the stage for sharp contrasts across the U.S. in 2026

An ag meteorologist says growers should be prepared for a variable winter weather season to start off 2026.

Greg Soulje tells Brownfield, “The weather is going to turn a little more active in between the tenth and fifteenth of January. That’s when we’re expecting the return to more volatile weather. Folks in the Upper Midwest, the Great Lakes, and into the Eastern Corn Belt need to be on guard for some winter storminess.”

He says a moderate La Niña weather pattern is expected to create sharp regional contrasts across the country.

“There will be two areas of concern on the southern peripheral where these arctic air masses will build in the Dakotas, the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Lakes region,” he says. “Some of that warmth relative to the early to mid wintertime in the Southern Plains, Southeastern States, and Cotton Belt country.”

Soulje says models are predicting colder temperatures and normal chances of precipitation in January.

AUDIO: Greg Soulje