Is it still ‘news’ if I’m only just hearing about it?

Welcome to the 2026-27 season! Things to note as of today:

• Meteorologists have forecast this to be a big El Niño season
• There’s a new deal for USA fans of skiing to watch events, following the cessation of Ski and Snowboard Live
• It’s Election Day in the US, and I’m on an election news blackout till tomorrow morning.

Weather forecast for the season

Noting predictions for the season in order to check them in retrospect:

• The Farmer’s Almanac says in the Northeast US, “Inland areas may be hit by several rounds of heavy, wet snow—particularly during January and February. Small shifts in storm tracks and temperatures could make the difference between rain, sleet, freezing rain, and accumulating snow. Residents should be prepared for forecasts to change quickly as storms approach.”
• Accuweather calls snowfall to shift to the west: “Snowfall is expected to run below to well below average across much of the Northwest, Midwest, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, and Northeast. The city forecasts show substantially less snow than last winter in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, while Denver and Salt Lake City are forecast to rebound from last year’s lower snowfall. Warmer conditions may cause some eastern storms to bring rain or mixed precipitation, but significant snowstorms remain possible.”
• The Weather Channel advises: “Northeast resorts face a rain-versus-snow gamble. A stormier pattern is expected along the East Coast, but without enough cold air behind it, especially early in the season, a lot of that precipitation may fall as rain instead of snow.”
• And our friendly government nerds at the NOAA bring us this: “A very strong El Nino will likely bring a southward and eastward shift to the jet stream for the contiguous U.S., which tilts the odds toward stormier weather across the South.”
  The press release in the link above is for the three-month period from Oct. 15. The Climate Prediction Center has a foredast that picks up the latter half of winter.

Expect the Northeast US to have above average temps and normal to above average precipitation, especially along the coast. A drier winter is forecast for the far northern Rockies and plains, and the northern parts of the Midwest. In the lower 48 states, Colorado and the Southwest might have the most normal winter in terms of temp and precipitation.

Watching cross-country ski racing this season

After keeping things cagey for the summer, the news is that there will be various ways to watch, including free options! See the release by US Ski and Snowboard from Oct. 21. In addition to streaming on NBC Sports and Peacock, it says:

All World Cup and World Championship events will also be available on demand on YouTube, including alpine, giving fans one free destination to catch up on any race they missed. Additionally, YouTube will stream Para alpine, Para snowboard and Para nordic World Championships, along with multiple World Cups, with more information to follow.

The FAST channel, distributed and operated by C15 Studio, will launch in the coming weeks across multiple television platforms.

Yay!

Election Day

Checking in on what other people are thinking and doing through the day will only make me have agita / 緊張. A fish stinks from the head, and I voted early.