Theresa Proudfit/Daily News photo STEVE LANDFAIR OF Detroit walks up Stephenson Avenue in Iron Mountain as large, fluffy flakes fall Thursday afternoon. Forecasters say the long-term prospects for the next three months favor a winter with below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation.

IRON MOUNTAIN — After an impressive start to the snow season, Old Man Winter still may have plenty left in the tank.

In the short term, a storm system is expected to move over the Great Lakes region early next week, followed by blustery, cold conditions.

Down the road, the National Weather Service calls for a 46% chance of below-normal temperatures at Iron Mountain-Kingsford from January through March, and just a 21% chance of above-normal. The odds favor, by about the same degree, above-average winter precipitation.

A Thanksgiving weekend storm delivered more than a foot of snow to the area and the potential exists for next week’s storm to be a major one as well, forecasters say.

“The exact track of the storm will determine where the boundary between rain and snow falls, and the track of the storm will be greatly tied to its intensity,” AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said. An intense storm is more likely to track over the Great Lakes, he said.

“A cold blast that follows the storm next week, regardless of its intensity, may lead to the most significant outbreak of lake-effect snow of the season so far,” Sosnowski added.

Temperatures in November at Iron Mountain-Kingsford averaged 28.1 degrees — nearly 5 degrees below normal but well above the record low of 23.4 degrees set in 1995. The highest temperature was 49 degrees on both Nov. 25 and 26. The lowest reading was 4 degrees on Nov. 12 and 13.

Water-equivalent precipitation measured 1.2 inches, which was 0.7 inches below average. The snowfall total for November was 5 inches, close to average but followed by nearly a foot of snow Dec. 1.

A typical monthly snow total for December at Iron Mountain-Kingsford is 13 inches. The record is 36.5 inches, set in 1968.

Precipitation through November totaled 34.83 inches at the Iron Mountain-Kingsford Wastewater Treatment Plant observation site, already above the annual average of 29.85 inches. Temperatures have averaged below normal every month of 2019 except July and September.

Although many factors at play in the atmosphere can influence temperatures, cold Novembers often are correlated with cold winters in the Midwest, according to Todd Crawford, chief meteorologist at The Weather Company.

The first official day of winter is more than two weeks away, arriving with the solstice at 10:19 p.m. Dec. 21.

Jim Anderson can be reached at 906-774-3500, ext. 226, or janderson@ironmountaindailynews.com.