El Niño Is Back! What This Means for Winter 2023-2024 Weather
Don’t look now, but another winter 2023-2024 forecast has been released, writes Paul Rusnak at Growing Produce. This time, NOAA has thrown its hat into the ring of wintertime predictions. Like others that have preceded it, presence of the El Niño climate phase is the biggest factor in what’s to come.
It’s been a few years (four to be exact) since El Niño has taken the driver’s seat from its sister La Niña. Both climate siblings are notorious for influencing weather patterns, including temperature, precipitation, tropical activity, and more. What does this El Niño mean for NOAA’s Winter 2023-2024 forecast? In a nutshell: “Wetter in the South; warmer in the North.”
Precipitation Predictions
From December through February, NOAA predicts wetter-than-average conditions for northern Alaska, portions of the West, the southern Plains, Southeast, Gulf Coast, and lower mid-Atlantic. Drier-than-average conditions are likely across the northern tier of the U.S., especially in the northern Rockies and High Plains, and near the Great Lakes.
“An enhanced southern jet stream and associated moisture often present during strong El Niño events supports high odds for above-average precipitation for the Gulf Coast, lower Mississippi Valley, and Southeast states this winter,” says Jon Gottschalck, Chief of the Operational Prediction Branch of the Climate Prediction Center, in the report.
Read more at Growing Produce.
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