US meteorologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said El Nino returned in June, putting El Niño winter temperature and precipitation in the US back under close watch. NOAA said the pattern could last until spring 2027, extending a weather setup that can shift conditions far beyond the Pacific Ocean.
El Nino is the warming of sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean that occurs every few years. It typically takes place every two to seven years and lasts several months, but NOAA now says this one could stretch much longer.
NOAA timeline from June
The previous El Nino event lasted around 12 months, from June 2023 to May 2024. The most recent La Nina event lasted roughly 31 months, from late 2020 to early 2023. That sequence matters because it shows how these swings can persist for long stretches before the Pacific Ocean shifts again.
NOAA announced the beginning of El Nino in June and said the pattern could remain in place until spring 2027. For People in the US and People in South American locations, that means weather planning now has to account for a pattern that can move rain, temperature, and storm tracks away from normal.
Pacific Ocean weather shift
El Nino can shift weather patterns across the globe. It can also bring heavy rainfall, storms, floods and droughts in certain locations around the world, while contributing to soaring temperatures. The pattern is natural, but scientists are also examining how it interacts with human-driven climate change.
That combination leaves forecasters watching two things at once: how strongly the Pacific Ocean warms, and how long the pattern holds. If El Nino does run into spring 2027, the main practical issue for people outside the Pacific Ocean will be whether local forecasts begin to tilt toward wetter, drier or hotter conditions linked to the pattern.
La Nina and El Nino
The contrast with La Nina is part of the story. La Nina is the cooler phase of the same climate system, and the recent La Nina lasted about 31 months, far longer than the usual several months for El Nino. The longer these phases run, the longer weather agencies and people in the US have to factor them into seasonal planning.
For now, NOAA has set the timeline most readers need to track: El Nino began in June and could stay in place until spring 2027. That gives forecasters a long runway to test whether the warming in the Pacific Ocean keeps feeding the temperature and precipitation shifts that often follow it.
