La Niña conditions have returned in the United States, but this time, they are expected to remain weak, prompting the Climate Protection Center to issue an advisory. In a post on X, the federal forecasters said that La Niña conditions are present and favored to persist through December 2025-February 2026.
The center said that La Niña conditions started to emerge in September 2025, as indicated by the expansion of below-average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.
What is La Niña?
La Nina is a naturally occurring climate pattern that cools surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Because of changes in vertical wind shear – the variation in wind speed and direction high in the atmosphere – La Nina tends