The current El Niño will not peak until the end of the year, or into January – but it’s already putting a stamp on extreme weather conditions across the country.
The signature bending of the jet stream brings a flow of moisture across the southern region of North America, and those areas have already seen historic flood events, as climate amplified moisture pumps up rain events to one-in-a-thousand year levels.
The question we might now ask is, could this translate into massive snowstorms as winter air finally settles in?
Local New York City meteorologists have a take, below.
The Gulf Coast generally sees cooler and wetter conditions, not because of numerous arctic outbreaks, but because of the stronger influence of the subtropical jet stream. Storm tracks are farther south on average, producing more clouds, rain, and severe weather.
Many portions of the U.S. typically have near normal rainfall under El Niño conditions. However, the Ohio Valley is below normal, and the southern tier of States from California to Florida is above normal with some spots averaging as much as 5 inches above normal. Storms making landfall in California and storms developing in the Gulf of America are the culprits.
Above, composite precipitation anomalies during El Niño years. Below, temperature.
