Meteorologists are predicting that weather patterns will change from El Niño to La Niña sometime between July and September, bringing a return to colder winters/
While El Niño is characterized by warm, above-average sea-surface temperatures, La Niña is a climate pattern that tends to occur soon after El Niño and brings on opposite, cold effects.
Weather events that cause changes in sea temperatures can have widespread impacts, which is why meteorologists closely monitor them.
In the case of La Niña, greater precipitation and winds may lead to rain storms, or even hurricanes.
La Niñas tend to cause more agricultural and drought damage to the United States than El Niños and neutral conditions, according to a 1999 study. That study found that La Niñas in general cause $2.2 billion to $6.5 billion in damage to U.S. agriculture.
In Canada, La Niña tends to be linked to winter weather that includes above average precipitation in British Columbia, colder-than-normal temperatures in the Prairies and more rain and snow than average in Ontario and Quebec, said Environment Canada the last cycle around.
