El Nino chances growing for this winter

Looking ahead to this upcoming winter, even though some of us would rather avoid that thought, it looks like El Nino chances will be swelling as the calendar flips to September, October, and November. This past spring, we've experienced neutral conditions, which means we there was neither an El Nino and La Nina. However, neutral conditions can lead to cooler temperatures over our portion of the United States, which might help explain our colder-than-normal April.

Early indications have shown that our El Nino chances are climbing for this winter but what does that mean for us?

Well, during a typical El Nino warmer ocean temperatures stretch farther east, closer to Mexico and South America. This allows that area of the world to become warmer, wetter, and more active, which actually has a big effect on our Michiana weather. During a normal El Nino winter, temperatures warm in western Canada and the northern U.S., including Michiana. Precipitation chances may be few and far between as drier-than-normal conditions are more possible around our area.

However, not all El Nino's are the same. These are conditions that we have observed over hundreds of El Nino events and we may not see conditions exactly like this, but, early on, signs are all pointing to El Nino's return.