IRON MOUNTAIN — There is a moderate drought in northeastern Wisconsin and neighboring Upper Peninsula counties as fall precipitation has been lacking, though a long-range forecast from the National Weather Service suggests wetter weather may be ahead.

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows moderate drought or at least abnormally dry conditions across most of the U.P., except for a few areas near Lake Superior.

The dry period comes after four straight years of very wet weather. There was 36.97 inches of precipitation in 2020.

The NWS’s Climate Prediction Center is calling for an end to the current dry trend, with a 45% chance of above-normal precipitation locally through January and a 21% chance of below-normal.

La Nina conditions are expected this winter, which is generally tied to cooler and wetter weather in the northern U.S., although the trends aren’t yet clear. La Nina, the flip side of El Nino, is the periodic cooling of the central Pacific Ocean that affects weather patterns around the globe.

Other influences in the atmosphere can override what’s typically expected in a La Nina winter, and those factors can’t be determined until winter is in full swing, said Linda Lam of The Weather Channel.

At this point, the CPC is calling for a 40% chance of above-normal temperatures in the U.P. through January, and a 26% chance of below-normal.

“The November-December-January temperature outlook depicts elevated odds for above-normal seasonal mean temperatures along the southern half of the U.S. and for the eastern third of the nation,” said CPC forecaster Jon Gottschalck.