The U.S. is set for an El Niño winter this year, bound for drier than usual conditions in the north, and wetter conditions in the south. Here's what you can expect depending on your region.
El Niño is the warmer counterpart to La Niña, generated by a warm ocean surface. During an El Niño winter, the Pacific jet stream moves south and spreads further east.
For this reason, the weather patterns across the U.S. turn to the opposite of what one might expect.
"The widespread warming across the tropical eastern Pacific associated with the natural El Niño cycle is large enough to disrupt weather patterns across the globe," Richard Allan, a professor in climate science at the University of Reading in the U.K., told Newsweek. "Southwestern Europe can be warmer and wetter in October and November while the southern U.S. is often wetter and cooler in the winter and where unusually moist air clashes with colder air to the north, heavy snow can be produced."
A wet winter can be expected from the southern states of California, through the Tennessee valley, all the way to the Carolinas, weather.com reported. Part of this is due to the stronger jet stream sweeping across the south.
Southern states can also expect some snow. Colorado and the Carolinas should brace for snowy storms, as well as parts of the Mid-Atlantic region.
Meanwhile, the north can expect a warmer winter than usual. While no two El Niño's are the same, in the past, seasonal snowfall was reduced in Chicago, Spokane, Bismarck, Boston and Cleveland, according to NOAA data.
During particularly strong El Niño years, snowfall in Spokane, Washington, was 18 inches less than usual, the data reported. While Chicago has previously seen a foot less in snowfall.
Washington state and New England, in particular, have seen greatly reduced snowfall in past El Niño's, weather.com reported.
The El Niño was first reported by NOAA this past June, and we have already seen the effects of its unusual weather patterns.
It came with an onslaught of tropical storms and hurricanes descending on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans this past summer.
This included tropical storm Hilary that descended onto California—the first tropical storm to make landfall in the state in recorded history.
"[During El Niño] the Amazon region can be warmer and much drier, which was the case as the last big El Niño developed in 2015, and this could exacerbate existing drought conditions," Allan said. "However, the fickle nature of weather patterns means that the exact locations and details of extremes will be difficult to pin down until a week or so before they develop. Importantly, the warmer climate due to human caused greenhouse gas emissions will increase the severity of hot, wet and dry extremes, where and when they occur."
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Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on wildlife, science and the ... Read more
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