El Nino has its largest impacts during the winter. In the winter, El Niño typically brings milder weather to the northern parts of the United States and wetter conditions across the southern United States. The opposite of El Niño is La Niña, the cold phase, which also changes weather worldwide.
El Nino is the warm phase of ENSO when ocean temperatures are warmer and precipitation is greater than normal in the area spanning the central to eastern Pacific Ocean.
This year, El Nino is in place heading into winter for the first time in four years, driving the outlook for warmer-than-average temperatures for the northern tier of the continental United States, according to NOAA’s U.S. Winter Outlook released today by the Climate Prediction Center — a division of the National Weather Service. “These outlooks provide critical guidance on the upcoming ...