2026-2027 Record-breaking El Nino

[michsnowfreak]

3 hours ago, roardog said:

There’s no doubt it’s most likely going to be a very mild winter for the country overall. Maybe I’m being picky but I don’t like how 97-98 kind of progressed backward of what you’d expect from a Nino with February being the warmest month that season. If you’re going to use 97-98 as your analog season and December ends up being the warmest month then it wasn’t 97-98 like at all IMO. Maybe everyone disagrees with me, I don’t know. lol

I agree 100%. Ive thought of that everytime I hear 97-98 brought up followed by expectations that Dec will be the warmest and Feb the coldest month. That is NOT 97-98 lol. Why is no one else mentioning that??? It was one of the oddest duck Ninos in that regard, and no one says a word about that.

For us, we know its going to snow. It always does. The more we salvage in Nov-Dec IMO will be the better chance for an ok snow season total by April. I also think theres no doubt we get some huge winter storms in the country. Will they hit us like in 1878 or 1992, or miss like in 1958 or 1983?

[michsnowfreak]

5 hours ago, snowman19 said:

I have always been and still am a huge advocate of waiting until November to issue a winter forecast. That said, this is one of the extremely rare cases where you don’t have to. The atmosphere has already tipped its hand. IMO the best analog for this winter is 1997-98, by far, despite the QBO not totally matching up. Maybe we get lucky this winter and time a thread the needle, transient arctic outbreak with a big coastal storm unlike 1997-98. IMO this Nino totally overwhelms everything. But overall, given the entire progression of this historic Nino event, its orientation and atmospheric response/coupling, that is how I expect this winter to go with the caveat being we may see a different snowfall result if we can perfectly time something up….there were a couple of very near misses back in Jan/Feb, 1998

Simply saying it's going to be a mild winter as everyone has thought for MONTHS now, or that it resembles a past year (97-98, which as @roardog says this year isnt following sensible weather-wise at all) is not a winter forecast. What @40/70 Benchmark does, thats a winter forecast. 

[forkyfork]

"it's going to snow. it always does," he said as he stared blankly in the psych ward

[jaxjagman]

10 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

I agree 100%. Ive thought of that everytime I hear 97-98 brought up followed by expectations that Dec will be the warmest and Feb the coldest month. That is NOT 97-98 lol. For us, we know its going to snow. It always does. The more we salvage in Nov-Dec IMO will be the better chance for an ok snow season total by April. I also think theres no doubt we get some huge winter storms in the country. Will they hit us like in 1878 or 1992, or miss like in 1958 or 1983?

Do agree,looks nothing like 1997 respective to today

[snowman19]

Do agree,looks nothing like 1997 respective to today

Yep. This El Niño has no resemblance whatsoever to 1997 lol

[LakePaste25]

Fair to say that just like 1997 was, it’s the strongest and most east-based of the satellite era. But one can also say that this one is a league of its own (even stronger and even more east based) and probably comparable to 1877-78 or the 1790s el niño. 

[GaWx]

5 minutes ago, LakePaste25 said:

Fair to say that just like 1997 was, it’s the strongest and most east-based of the satellite era. But one can also say that this one is a league of its own (even stronger and even more east based) and probably comparable to 1877-78 or the 1790s el niño. 

In terms of the degree of it being E based, the @griteater graph below suggests it will likely be nearest 1998 but with 1982 and 1877 not being far off. When also considering that 1997 wasn’t nearly as good a QBO match as 1982 and 1877 is unknown, perhaps 1982-3 is the best analog of these: