Alex Baumhardt-June 23, 2026 Oregon Capital Chronicle

The potential super El Niño event this fall and winter could bring much needed rains to the region, experts said

Warming temperatures at the equator could paradoxically bring the Northwest a wet fall and high winter snowpack, according to climatologists.

The West could be in for “one of the strongest El Niños we’ve had,” Larry O’Neill, Oregon’s state climatologist, said Monday. The ocean and atmospheric weather pattern that occurs every few years and touches all parts of the West typically brings with it warmer and drier temperatures from August through winter, but during a super El Niño — of which there have been only three since 1980 — it does the opposite, bringing greater rain and mountain snowpack.

“The very strong ones don’t follow the typical rule of thumb,” O’Neill said following an online drought and climate outlook meeting hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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