El Niño Seen 90% Likely to Turn Very Strong, Reshaping US Fall and Winter Weather
Updated
Updated · Fox Weather · Aug 30
El Niño Seen 90% Likely to Turn Very Strong, Reshaping US Fall and Winter Weather
3 articles · Updated · Fox Weather · Aug 30
Summary
National Weather Service forecasts now put the chance of a very strong El Niño above 90%, prompting warnings of major U.S. weather shifts this fall and winter.
Southern states from California and the Desert Southwest to the Gulf Coast are expected to turn wetter as the Pacific jet stream shifts south, boosting monsoon and tropical moisture after a dry summer.
That pattern could bring drought relief but also raise flooding, mudslide and severe-storm risks, with wetter-than-average conditions also projected from North Carolina into central Florida.
Northern areas including the Pacific Northwest, Northern Rockies and Upper Midwest are more likely to see a warmer, drier fall, potentially delaying normal seasonal cooling.
Forecasters point to 1997 — one of the strongest El Niño years on record — when the North stayed unusually warm and West Coast storms arrived as early as October.