Persistent El Niño could impact Chicago winter, persist into spring

Chicago Weather Persistent El Niño could impact Chicago winter, persist into spring A potent El Niño pattern is continuing to strengthen, and its impacts could be felt in Chicago's winter and beyond Published 12 minutes ago • Updated 1 minute ago The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center has unveiled its latest El Niño projections, and the weather pattern could have serious impacts on the Chicago area’s weather for months. According to that latest guidance released on Thursday, the ongoing El Niño pattern in the Pacific Ocean has continued to strengthen over the last month, and forecasters are warning that a “strong-to-very strong” pattern is expected to persist beyond the winter months and into at least the early spring. Stream NBC 5 for free, 24/7, wherever you are. WATCH HERE The latest update indicates that there is a chance the El Niño pattern could continue to grow even stronger for the remainder of this year before slowly starting to weaken, and there is still a strong chance of an “historic event” that could impact weather across the United States. The latest climate prediction models from the National Weather Service certainly are backing those types of impacts. The upper Midwest, including the Chicago area, is trending toward seeing predominately above-average temperatures through the end of November and well into meteorological winter, which officially starts on December 1. Forecasts are a bit less certain on precipitation levels, though parts of the south are trending toward higher-than-normal amounts of precipitation, which would fit an El Niño pattern, according to experts. So what weather impacts does the Chicago area typically see in an El Niño winter? According to experts at the Illinois State Climatologist’s office and the University of Illinois, winters during an El Niño pattern typically feature above-average temperatures, along with drier conditions with less snowfall. Local Technology 16 minutes ago Why is Microsoft Outlook down? What the company's investigation has found Movies 29 minutes ago Roeper's Reviews: Chilling, at times disturbing version of ‘A Christmas Carol' No two El Niño patterns are the same, but with the strength of this year’s warming of the Pacific Ocean, the chances for impacts related to that weather pattern are higher, according to the CPC. This article tagged under: Chicago Weather