How El Niño rearranges the winter jet stream

A simplified picture of the average pattern. Individual storms, weeks and even whole winters can break it.

Subtropical (Pacific) jetPolar jetWarm equatorial Pacific

Schematic based on NOAA Climate Prediction Center descriptions of El Niño winter circulation. Basemap: Natural Earth.DisasterAWARE

Show the data as a table

Change in a strong El Niño winter	Typical effect
Extra heating over the warm equatorial Pacific	Strengthens the subtropical jet
Subtropical jet extends east to the southwestern US	More storms across California, the Southwest and the Gulf Coast
Storm track shifts south	Less stormy across the northern US and western Canada
Deeper Aleutian Low, shifted east	Milder Pacific air into the Northwest; less Arctic air from Canada