El Niño Set to Begin This Summer with Potentially Significant Impact

The odds of El Niño, the warm phase of the climate pattern known as ENSO, being in place for next winter are now up to 93 percent. Notable warming of the waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific has further increased the likelihood that El Niño will begin by late spring or early summer. Assuming we’re in some form of El Niño next winter, that typically means a warmer Pacific Northwest, wetter in the south, southwest and coastal southeast with drier weather in the interior southeast.