According to the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center, El Niño continues to get stronger, and the winter outlook shows El Niño will likely influence the months of December to February.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports warmer-than-average temperatures are expected across the northern U.S., and wetter-than-average conditions are likely across the southern U.S., from California to Florida, and along the Eastern Seaboard. Drought conditions are also expected to improve across many areas of the country.
Ken Graham. director of NOAA’s National Weather Service, recently shared weather news in an online news conference.
“A strong El Niño is not necessarily related to the severity of the impact. It’s an important point, right? A stronger El Niño means a higher likelihood of these impacts,” Graham told reporters.
According to Graham, El Niño can favor a more mild than average winter in the northern United States.
“But listen, even in the winter months, it doesn’t mean you’re not going to have snow. It doesn’t mean you might not have a snowstorm,” Graham stated.
He also said the South might see stormy weather because of an eastward shift of the jet stream. Drought areas could have flash floods, and mudslides, as precipitation from rain and snow mix with the dry soil.
Jon Gottschalck, a meteorologist with National Weather Service, talked about how a strong El Niño could affect the polar vortex, which can bring very cold air into the U.S.
“We have a stronger stratospheric polar vortex. It's more stable. We do feel like under these conditions that we have this year, the Westerly QBO (Quasi-Biennial Oscillation) and strong El Niño conditions, typically the polar vortex is stronger, and when it's stronger in the stratosphere, there’s typically less Arctic outbreaks across the mid latitudes,” Graham explains.
Throughout the year, AFN has reported on the El Niño, its conditions and its effects, from drought relief to hurricane suppressant.
