Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays caught up with News on 6 Meteorologist Travis Meyer at the 2023 Tulsa Farm Show- and they talked the status of El Niño as we near the end of 2023. Meyer says the El Nino that we are starting to see develop out in the Pacific is what he calls a borderline strong El Nino. (Click on the audio bar above to hear their full conversation- which was aired live on KGGF 690 AM from the Tulsa Farm Show)
El Niño means Little Boy in Spanish. South American fishermen first noticed periods of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean in the 1600s. The full name they used was El Niño de Navidad, because El Niño typically peaks around December.
According to NOAA- the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminsitration- El Niño can affect our weather significantly. The warmer waters cause the Pacific jet stream to move south of its neutral position. With this shift, areas in the northern U.S. and Canada are dryer and warmer than usual. But in the U.S. Gulf Coast and Southeast, these periods are wetter than usual and have increased flooding.
Meyer says that currently- the El Nino we are dealing with is acting pretty normal. He says we are starting to see a line of storms line up out in the Pacific and are rolling in across the United States. He believes that will continue for the time being- and will result in several opportunities for rain and snow as we work our way through the winter season here in the southern plains.
As for the amount of snow that we could be saving in Oklahoma and Kansas this year- Meyer is expecting at least normal and more than likely a higher than normal amount of snow this season.
He’s feeling confident that we will have more chances of precipitation this winter into next spring- which should help continue to push out drought conditions the next several months.
