{"id":282583,"date":"2026-05-07T09:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/282583\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T09:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:23:08","slug":"strongest-el-nino-in-140-years-what-it-means-for-snow-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/282583\/","title":{"rendered":"Strongest El Ni\u00f1o in 140 years? What it means for snow in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

For about a month, there have been signs a\u00a0record-breaking El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> could be developing. A meteorologist now says the latest models are increasing the odds of a super El Ni\u00f1o event, increasing the chance Texas will see a wetter and colder winter.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, an\u00a0El Ni\u00f1o<\/a>\u00a0means a cooler and wetter fall and winter season for Texas as warmer ocean waters impacts atmospheric conditions. Meteorologists and climatologists have been sounding the alarm since early April, warning of a\u00a0very strong El Ni\u00f1o\u00a0<\/a>beginning in late spring and lasting through the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Now, News 4 San Antonio Chief Meteorologist Chris Suchan<\/a> says the latest models he\u2019s run show Pacific waters climbing well over 3 degrees Celsius above average. An El Ni\u00f1o is triggered when those temps are 2 degrees warmer than average, in Celsius.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrand news Euro Nino Plumes continues pumping out one of the strong El Ni\u00f1o\u00a0 episodes going back more than a hundred years,\u201d Suchan said in a post online. \u201cThis would easily be super El Ni\u00f1o per this forecast data.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other forecasters say this could be the strongest El Ni\u00f1o in recorded history, which could have big impacts on Texas weather as the cooler months approach. During an El Ni\u00f1o season, the southern jet stream strengthens, says the National Weather Service. This often means more precipitation for Texans.<\/p>\n

An El Ni\u00f1o also often means snowier than normal winters for the Texas Panhandle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, El Ni\u00f1o conditions lead to wetter, snowier conditions in Amarillo and cooler maximum temperatures during the winter,\u201d an NWS explainer on the oceanic phenomenon states.<\/p>\n

While Texas could certainly use some more rain after prolonged periods of drought, it\u2019s unclear whether a strong El Ni\u00f1o could be the lonesome Hail Mary needed to fix evaporating creeks and lakes.<\/p>\n

The Southwest and Southern Plains have been deemed under\u00a0drought conditions<\/a>\u00a0for almost six years, meaning it\u2019s going to take a lot of rain that actually seeps into aquifers to reverse the lasting impacts. What\u2019s often not realized is that quick rounds of heavy rainfall are not enough to replenish these underground, or above ground, water sources due to runoff \u2013 soaked soil stops absorbing as much water which feeds aquifers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne good year of won\u2019t eliminate 6 years of water deficit unless it\u2019s exceptionally wet, like in 1957-58,\u201d the National Integrated Drought Information System warns. \u201cThose years also saw historic floods that led to fatalities and devastating destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For about a month, there have been signs a\u00a0record-breaking El Ni\u00f1o could be developing. A meteorologist now says…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[820,3091,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-282583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-mysastaff","tag-mysawx","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}