There may be more islanders flocking to sunny climates in the months after Christmas.

According to meteorologists at Accuweather, winter is going to hit the Northwest hard starting in February.

“The brunt of the winter season, especially when dealing with cold, will be over the north-central U.S.,” said meteorologist Paul Pastelok with Accuweather, which is based in Pennsylvania and provides local forecasts throughout the United States and the globe.

In February that core of cold weather is predicted to shift westward over the northern Rockies, with colder-than-normal conditions extending all the way to the Washington and Oregon coasts. Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia are predicted to have one of their top three coldest winters in the past 20 years.

Though February is expected to be a drier month for Seattle and Portland, chances for any snow events would be highest during this month with the colder air in place.

The earlier part of the season is forecasted to feature more moderate temperatures that average near normal, but a slight increase in rain.

Meteorologist Paul Walker said that December will be a particularly rainy month for the San Juans. The region typically has around five inches of rain and highs in the mid-40s with lows in the mid-30s.

“We expect that in December the ridge (high pressure area) of the Southwestern United States will be strong and push the jet stream to the Pacific Northwest and bring several storms through,” he said. “Precipitation will average above normal and temperatures will be near normal … if the ridge weakens, it will shift to the south: Northern California and Oregon.”

This past summer averaged close to previous years in regards to temperature but started out a bit wet.

“We had a few moist systems that moved in and the precipitation averaged a little above normal,” Walker said.

Walker says it’s been another warm, dry October due to a Southwest ridge jet stream.

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For more information about weather, go to www.accuweather.com.