NOAA is now predicting a 90 percent chance of a strong El Nino lasting into the fall and most likely through the winter. What does that mean for impacts across the country? Cliff Mass has an excellent blog posting on this subject at https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-strong-el-nino-develops-what-does.html.
Even though his blog is directed towards the Pacific Northwest, you can get a good idea of the differences by looking at his national maps of temperature and precipitation anomalies, as well as a good description of the current status of El Nino. For the Southeast, a strong El Nino is likely to bring wet and cool conditions to southern Alabama and Georgia and all of Florida this coming winter. A very strong El Nino will make these anomalies even more likely. A very strong El Nino is also likely to make the upper Midwest, Northeast and Pacific Northwest warmer than usual this winter. My friends in Wisconsin are likely to see a very short ice-fishing season this year! Fortunately for California farmers, a very strong El Nino means wet conditions for next winter, which could bring needed relief from the multi-year drought, although it is also likely to bring flooding there.
