#la-nintildea

#la-nintildea

The past 11 years are the warmest since records began, with the past three top of the leader-board. Hottest of the lot was 2024, which coincided with a strong Niño-a pattern of winds and ocean currents that nudges the thermometer upwards-combined with a peak of the 11-year solar cycle when the sun shines brightest. But in 2025 El Niño tailed off, to be replaced by its opposite pattern, La Niña, and the sun-only a minor part of the story in any case-began to dim.

January 2026 favors a classic weak La Niña setup: colder, stormier conditions and better snow odds for the Pacific Northwest, Northern Rockies, Great Lakes, and western Alaska, with more warmth and dryness across the Southwest, southern Rockies, southern Plains, Southeast, and southern Appalachians. The central Rockies, much of California, the Northwest coast, and New England sit in a higher-uncertainty "wild card" zone where small shifts in the storm track could swing snowfall either way.