ETSU climatologist: El Nino could mean warmer winter

As summer across northeast Tennessee continues in its hot, dry glory, some are raising concerns about El Niño, a specific weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean that could affect the remainder of this year's weather. "[It's] official that El Niño has arrived for the summer," said Wil Tollefson, assistant climatologist for the Tennessee Climate Office. "This is what's known as a teleconnection, so one part of the world can impact weather patterns really around the planet." In regard to the rest of this summer, it's not expected to have a big impact on the southeastern U.S., but Tellefson says it generally means a less active hurricane season in the Atlantic. He does warn, however, that northeastern Tennessee may see a "warmer than normal winter" following a weather pattern like El Niño. "This kind of change and pattern with El Niño means that there's more wind changing directions with elevation over the Atlantic that can tear apart hurricanes and tropical storms before they get too strong," he said. "That could mean less rainfall potential for us [...], so it might be a little bit drier, but it's hard to say." Andrew Moulton, a representative from the National Weather Service in Morristown, couldn't agree more. "For our neck of the woods, it doesn't usually cause dramatic impacts [...]," he told the Press on Friday. "Especially not ones that people are going to notice in their day-to-day lives." The coming week certainly won't see any sign of El Niño. "Saturday should end up being pretty clear," Moulton said. "Unfortunately, we're not going to get rid of some of the temperatures even after the rain comes through. We'll continue to cool off a bit, maybe more into the mid 80s on Sunday [because] some thunderstorms are expected later in the day on Sunday."