El Nino 2026

From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. Many parts of the country have seen some wild back-and-forth temperature swings combined with on-again, off-again winter weather.

John Baranick, ag meteorologist at DTN, says they’re predicting a switch from a La Niña to an El Niño this year.

And while some are predicting a “Godzilla El Niño,” it will likely be strong, no matter what you call it …

BARANICK … “Gigantic, mega, ultra, whatever, I guess. Use what adjective you want, but there is a pretty significant threat. Well, I don't know if threat’s the right word, but a possibility is there of a really strong El Niño coming back into play here later this year. El Niño looks almost a guarantee. Things are setting up there in the Pacific Ocean, where it's going to get warm rather quickly over the next couple of months. Just how warm that's going to be is a little bit of a question mark, but I think there is potential there for it being really strong.”

And we just had a Super El Niño a few years ago …

BARANICK … “It was just three years ago, 2023, when we had a super El Niño in the Pacific Ocean, and we're kind of trending that way. A lot of the models are giving the same sort of idea, same shape, almost the same timing, too.

Which makes the 2023 season kind of a good analog year to look at when we look at how the weather is going to go through the rest of this year, too.”

Baranick says when we get an El Niño, strong or not, that tends to leave us with some pretty good conditions across the U.S.