The other phase is El\u202fNi\u00f1o<\/a>, which is the warm counterpart, the Climate Prediction Center explains.<\/p>\nLa Ni\u00f1a conditions could arrive anytime between October and January, AccuWeather lead long-range expert Paul Pastelok told Newsweek. During this period, the upper jet stream splits over the northern Pacific. The northern branch typically arcs over Alaska before dipping into western Canada and the northern U.S., bringing colder air to those regions, Pastelok said.<\/p>\n
“The southern storm track moves through the north-central Pacific and [is] typically aimed more at the Northwest,” Pastelok added.<\/p>\n
![\"CPC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/cpc-temp-outlook.jpg\")
\nThe Climate Prediction Center’s seasonal temperature outlook for December to February.
\nThe Climate Prediction Center’s seasonal temperature outlook for December to February.
\nClimate Prediction Center<\/p>\n
In its most recent seasonal outlooks for December 2025 to February 2026, NHC forecasts showed there was a 40 percent to 50 percent chance for above normal temperatures across parts of southeast California, southern Nevada and Arizona.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the majority of Washington and northwest Oregon could see below normal temperatures.<\/p>\n
![\"CPC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/cpc-precip-map.jpg\")
\nThe Climate Prediction Center’s seasonal precipitation outlook for December to February.
\nThe Climate Prediction Center’s seasonal precipitation outlook for December to February.
\nClimate Prediction Center<\/p>\n
In terms of precipitation, central California was given a 33 percent to 44 percent chance of below normal levels, with a greater probability in the southern part of the state, as well as for portions of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.<\/p>\n
“These outlooks do not just incorporate La Ni\u00f1a information; they will also include longer term trends. But for precipitation in particular, the main driver usually is La Ni\u00f1a [or El Ni\u00f1o] when they are occurring,” Michelle L’Heureux, a scientist with the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) told Newsweek.<\/p>\n
What People Are Saying<\/strong><\/p>\nAccuWeather lead long-range expert Paul Pastelok told Newsweek: <\/strong>“Our long-range team has been watching the trend of ENSO [La Ni\u00f1a and El Ni\u00f1o] for this coming fall. We do see the waters across the central and east-central Equatorial Pacific cooling.<\/p>\n“This can impact the upper patterns across the Pacific which would favor ‘La Ni\u00f1a conditions.’ But like last year, it may not be officially a La Ni\u00f1a winter because it should not fit the criteria by NOAA of five consecutive three-month averages with sea surface temperature anomaly at -0.5 C or greater on the negative side.<\/p>\n
“Since the signal is weak, it is hard to be certain how much impact this will have on the U.S.”<\/p>\n
What Happens Next<\/strong><\/p>\nThe CPC updates its seasonal forecasts for temperature and precipitation on the third Thursday of every month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A brief period of La Ni\u00f1a conditions is favored during the fall and early winter in the U.S.,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":168813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,96689,2961,96690,224,5337,6548,313],"class_list":{"0":"post-168812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-climate-prediction-center","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-niu00f1a","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-losangeles","15":"tag-maps","16":"tag-weather"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115077395714748268","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}