Tomorrow we’ll be greeted with the strange dissonance of 73 degree weather and a sunset at ten to five. Confusing as it is, the tilt of the Earth will finally win out, and winter will arrive sooner or later. But if you ask CapitalWeather.com, it won’t be any great shakes. Bad news for us snow lovers and school kids, but great news for southern transplants and bad drivers.

According to CapitalWeather’s famed Winter Outlook, posted this morning, it looks as if Washington will be stuck in a zone competing against a dry and warm regime over the Carolinas and a wet and severe one over the Northeast. In other words, it’s looking pretty average, with a good chance that January and February will be warmer than usual with winter snowfall totals below normal. Most dishearteningly, they predict that the bust potential—when they forecast four inches of snow and end up with a warm wind and some mist—will be pretty high. What a rip off.

CapitalWeather goes into the science of their prediction—all “La Niña this,” “El Niño that,” and “check out my quasi-biennial oscillation”—but we’ll leave that to them. The only thing abundantly clear is that if you’re hoping for a big, blustery, blizzardy winter and it turns out to be totally lame, blame Matt Ross.

Photo from ambimb.