{"id":426255,"date":"2026-09-04T16:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/426255\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T16:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:52:11","slug":"el-nino-could-become-one-of-the-strongest-ever-texas-is-watching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/426255\/","title":{"rendered":"El Ni\u00f1o could become one of the strongest ever. Texas is watching"},"content":{"rendered":"

The World Meteorological Organization<\/a> is sounding a much louder alarm over El Ni\u00f1o<\/a>, saying the weather pattern is firmly established<\/a> and could become one of the strongest events seen<\/a> in decades.<\/p>\n

“El Ni\u00f1o is being supersized before our eyes. The science leaves no room for doubt: The planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up. Sea surface temperatures are rising, temperatures keep climbing, and the world is in the danger zone of extreme weather,” U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The race now is between rising risks and our commitment to take climate action and protect people. We must win that race.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The WMO said Thursday<\/a> there is an “exceptionally high likelihood of nearly 100%” El Ni\u00f1o will persist through February 2027, with the event expected to strengthen further and peak toward the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

\"TOPSHOT<\/p>\n

TOPSHOT – World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Celeste Saulo (L) and WMO Chief of climate prediction section Wilfran Moufouma-Okia attend a press conference on El Nino update, in Geneva on September 3, 2026. El Nino is set to become “very strong” in the months ahead, with the weather phenomenon near certain to persist through to February, the United Nations’ climate agency warned. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI \/ AFP via Getty Images) (FABRICE COFFRINI\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

That matters for Texas because El Ni\u00f1o can shift rainfall and temperature patterns across the Southern U.S., potentially setting the stage for a much wetter winter. But there’s an important catch: A strong El Ni\u00f1o does not mean every place will get the same weather.<\/p>\n

“The strength of an El Ni\u00f1o event alone does not determine how severe its impacts will be in any individual country or region,” the WMO said. “Its effects vary according to location and season and can be modified by other climate drivers.”<\/p>\n

For Texas, early signs already point to a wetter cool season.<\/p>\n

John Nielsen-Gammon, a Texas A&M University atmospheric sciences professor, recently told Chron<\/a> he puts the odds of Texas having a wetter-than-normal cool season at about 90 percent from October through April. He said El Ni\u00f1o is expected to bring a stronger, farther-south jet stream that could send more storm systems into the state.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This photograph shows presentation slide displayed during a press conference on El Nino update by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in Geneva on September 3, 2026. El Nino is set to become “very strong” in the months ahead, with the weather phenomenon near certain to persist through to February, the United Nations’ climate agency warned. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI \/ AFP via Getty Images) (FABRICE COFFRINI\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

For Houston, that could mean more clouds and steady rain rather than a parade of cold fronts. Nielsen-Gammon told Chron the city has a 10 to 15 percent chance of breaking its October-through-April rainfall record.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t necessarily mean Texans should start stocking up on snow shovels.<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o generally favors cooler conditions across Texas, but Nielsen-Gammon put the odds of a cooler-than-normal October-through-April period at about 50-50 for the state. He also cautioned that strong El Ni\u00f1o events don’t necessarily produce more snow in Central and South Texas because significant snow still requires a strong blast of Arctic air.<\/p>\n

The WMO’s latest update puts even more emphasis on preparedness worldwide, warning that a very strong El Ni\u00f1o can increase the risk of extreme heat, flooding and drought in different parts of the world. The organization said the event could produce climate impacts well into 2027.<\/p>\n

This is a significant shift from where forecasts stood earlier this summer. In June, Chron reported<\/a> that forecasters were still debating how strong El Ni\u00f1o might become. By Aug. 30, the question had shifted toward what a potentially “super” El Ni\u00f1o could mean for Texas.<\/p>\n

Now the WMO says El Ni\u00f1o is expected to become very strong and has launched what it calls an unprecedented mobilization to prepare for the event.<\/p>\n

More Weather<\/p>\n

Heat<\/a> | ‘Worst humidity ever’: Texans suffer through sticky heat blast<\/a>
Summer<\/a> | Texas on alert as ‘super’ El Ni\u00f1o threat grows more powerful<\/a>
Damage<\/a> | Half-dollar-sized hail, high winds threaten Texas Panhandle<\/a>
Forecast<\/a>\u00a0| Tropical system looks like it’ll avoid most of Texas<\/a><\/p>\n

For the latest and best from\u00a0Chron,\u00a0sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at El Ni\u00f1o could become one of the strongest ever. Texas is watching<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The World Meteorological Organization is sounding a much louder alarm over El Ni\u00f1o, saying the weather pattern is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[91777,148200,21087,27,29,28,148199,116202,148198,148197],"class_list":["post-426255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-el-nino","tag-fabrice-coffrini","tag-getty-images","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-united-nations","tag-weather-phenomenon","tag-wmo","tag-world-meteorological-organization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426255","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=426255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}