Even though autumn has barely begun, meteorologists are already using El Nino to look ahead to the winter season.
El Nino, which occurs when the ocean surface temperature in the eastern equatorial Pacific is higher than average.
The Pacific jet stream's position can be altered by the warm water, allowing warmer-than-normal air to reach some regions of North America.
The United States often feels the effects of El Nino beginning in the late fall or early winter and continuing into the early spring.
As the polar jet stream remains high in the sky during an El Nino winter, the cold air stays north of the United States and over Canada.
The active subtropical jet, which is fed by warm, moist air from the Pacific Ocean, causes above-average precipitation in the South.
Drought conditions are expected to deteriorate as the Ohio Valley and mid-Mississippi River Valley continue to see below-average precipitation.
All of the northern United States, from northern California, Oregon, and Washington through Pennsylvania, New York, and New England, is expected to have warmer-than-average
Northern states, including the northern Rockies and the Great Lakes, may receive less snow than usual this winter.
Precipitation totals are predicted to be higher than average from Louisiana to Florida and the Carolinas, with the wettest weather occurring in the Southeast.
Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and southern New England may have more precipitation than usual this winter.