Earth
El Niño Snow Forecast 2026–27: Will It Snow Where You Live?
Using snowfall records from past strong El Niño winters, this Short checks how six US cities fared. The pattern is that El Niño moves snow around rather than erasing it: northern cities tend to get less while the South and East Coast can get hit. It stresses that this is history, not a forecast for the coming winter.
The numbers
- The analysis covers nine strong El Niño winters since 1950 across six cities.
- Seattle saw no snow at all in five of its eight recorded strong El Niño winters.
- Boston came in below average in all nine of those winters.
- Denver beat its average in six of its eight recorded winters.
- Washington, D.C. ranged from 0.1 inches (1997–98) to a record 56.1 inches (2009–10).
Sources cited in the video: NOAA Regional Climate Centers (ACIS) · NOAA Climate Prediction Center · NOAA climate.gov · NASA Blue Marble
