Forecasters Project Strong El Niño Event

Why it matters locally: A strong El Niño event could bring warmer and drier winters to southern Oregon, and potentially warmer and wetter conditions to the northern parts of the state, impacting snowpack critical for summer water supplies and increasing wildfire risk.

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Forecasters project a developing El Niño event will register among the most intense recorded since 1950. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began tracking these phenomena in 1950. El Niño involves a warming of the surface waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. This warming influences atmospheric circulation, impacting weather patterns across various regions worldwide.