Storm Outcomes Differ Across Past Super El Niño Winters

Buzzline

Past Super El Niño winters have affected US snow and storm activity differently; a January 2016 blizzard left Central Park with more than two feet of snow. The FOX Forecast Center says three such winters have occurred since 1990: 1991–92, 1997–98 and 2015–16. The first two shared some patterns, while 2015–16 differed, with warmer waters across the Pacific, Gulf of America and Atlantic; the center says three seasons are too few to establish a reliable forecast, and storm outcomes depend on storm tracks, cold air and ocean temperatures.  Disclosure: This video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.

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00:00Past Super El Nino winters brought big snowstorms, but not always snowy winters.

00:05Cold air helped determine whether active Pacific storms delivered rain or snow.

00:10The Fox Forecast Center compared three winters with this unusually strong Pacific warming pattern.

00:16In 1991, a Halloween blizzard brought feet of snow to Minnesota and Wisconsin,

00:21but few major storms followed, and warmer weather and rain dominated afterward.

00:25In 1997, another major October snowstorm arrived, bringing heavy snow from Colorado to Maine.

00:32Yet major northeast cities lacked snow for the rest of that season.

00:36The winter, starting in 2015, took a different path after an exceptionally warm December.

00:41A January blizzard then brought heavy snow to the northeast.

00:45Warmer oceans may help explain those differences by feeding storms heat and moisture,

00:50but those few winters cannot reliably predict how the next winter unfolds.

00:54Disclosure, this video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.

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