What El Niño Means for Fall and Winter Weather in the U.S. – Time Magazine

What El Niño Means for Fall and Winter Weather in the U.S.  Time Magazine

Experts explain how a super El Niño could impact fall and winter weather across the country. Follow this section to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow this tag to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow this author to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. A boat on cracked ground at Lake Guija during drought conditions in Metapan, El Salvador, on Sept. 1, 2026. With fall slowly creeping up, experts are warning of a record strong El Niño, colloquially dubbed “super El Niño.” The weather event is expected to impact global temperatures and rainfall, and could increase the risk of extreme weather events in some parts of the world.

El Niño, and its opposite La Niña, are climate patterns that naturally occur in the tropical Pacific. El Niño years tend to see warmer than average waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, while La Niña years are associated with colder than average water temperatures. The corresponding weather events triggered by the warmer ocean can have a varied and strong impact around the globe. With El Niño, forecasters are expecting to see stormier weather in some parts of the world and drought conditions in others. “Pacific sea surface temperatures are going to vary at least two degrees from the average. That means the Pacific waters are