One of the strongest-ever El Niño weather patterns is expected to bring a warmer-than-usual winter to Ohio.
While a warmer-than-average winter could alleviate some winter heating bills and make travel easier, State Climatologist and Ohio State field specialist Aaron Wilson cautioned that people could also expect temperatures to vary throughout the winter
in an article published Oct. 8 by the OSU College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.“I expect temperatures to fluctuate considerably this winter with a few bouts of cold air but fewer sustained cold periods,” Wilson said.
While the winter is generally expected to be warmer than usual, Wilson said that the weather pattern could also bring sharp temperature changes and extreme weather,
especailly in the southern part of the state.
According to the winter weather outlook that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released Oct. 15, Ohio is likely to have a warmer-than-usual winter, on average, while precipitation over the winter has equal chances of being wetter or drier than usual.
El Niño weather patterns happen when the surface of the Pacific Ocean in tropical areas becomes unusually warm. This has ripple effects around many parts of the world, including the United States.
Usually, a strong El Niño weather pattern brings warmer temperatures across the northern U.S. and a wetter-than-average winter for much of the southern U.S.
Previous El Niño years have also brought below-normal precipitation to the Ohio area, but Wilson noted that winter precipitation has been trending upward and that complicates forecasts.
Anna Lynn Winfrey is a repoter for the Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Strong El Niño to bring warmer winter to Ohio
