National Weather Service Says El Niño Could Contribute to Warmer Winter

National Weather ServiceThe National Weather Service has detected an El Niño weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which could mean a warmer, drier winter.That’s according to Meteorologist Chris Miller who says the El Niño is just one factor in looking at winter forecasts.

Miller tells WGIL that they are seeing a strong El Niño this year, which means the probability of a wamer, drier winter is more likely.

“The one that we are seeing develop right now though, we’re expecting that to be strong in nature, which we don’t see those very often,” says Miller. “The last time we had one of those was about 17 or 18 years ago. Just because it’s a strong El Niño, doesn’t mean it’s going to be really warm or really dry or really mild during the winter. It just means we’ve got a higher probability that we’re going to end up with a mild and dry winter.”

Miller says there are other factors that could contribute to winter weather still being below freezing and bring ice and snow, such as a polar vortex.

Miller says El Niños are fairly common and usually occur every few years, though it has been a while since the last strong one.

El Niños occur when warmer water temperatures near the equator are detected, that typically affect global weather patterns from the fall through winter.

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