Americans Advised To 'Prepare Now' and Stock up on Seven Items Ahead of 'Devastating' Winter Weather

Meteorologist Mike Bettes urged Americans in the Southwest and Southeast to prepare for severe weather during an El Niño winter, warning of potential flooding and landslides in an undated report. Separate advice from power engineer Heather Eason identified seven items to consider obtaining alongside a generator.

The warnings concern a weather pattern associated with unusually warm ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The report also describes a NOAA forecast anticipating above-average winter temperatures and an accompanying warning about potentially stormier conditions across the southern United States.

The material does not identify the forecast year. References to conditions extending beyond winter therefore cannot establish an outlook for a particular upcoming season.

Severe Weather Advice Centres on Backup Power

Eason recommended considering a generator in case a household loses electricity. Her seven additional recommendations were a phone power bank, LED lanterns, batteries, a portable battery power station, extension cords, propane for a gas grill and solar panels.

The generator is separate from that seven-item list. Together, the recommendations focus on backup power, lighting and fuel, reflecting concerns about disruption to household electricity supplies during severe weather.

The report does not specify quantities, equipment capacities or how long power outages might last. It also provides no detailed recommendations on food and water supplies. The advice concerns items households could consider obtaining, without specifying how much they should purchase.

Why El Niño Raised Severe Weather Concerns

Bettes identified Southern California as an area of concern if atmospheric rivers repeatedly affected the region. His warning was conditional, drawing on previous strong El Niño events to explain the potential consequences.

'If prior strong El Niños are any guide, this could be a very active year for atmospheric rivers in Southern California, and that could have disastrous consequences.'

'Back-to-back atmospheric rivers can bring massive flooding and landslides, fill reservoirs, and even threaten dams. Water is going to be a major player this winter, and communities across the Southwest and Southeast should be preparing now.'

The report attributes another warning to NOAA, describing how a strong El Niño could shift the jet stream southwards and eastwards across the contiguous United States. Such a shift could increase the likelihood of stormier weather across the South during the traditionally colder months.

Meteorologist Jen Carfagno also described signs of an active winter along the West Coast. She cautioned that El Niño events differ, while suggesting that the effects of the event she was discussing could continue beyond winter.

'Every El Niño is different, but all the signs with this one – from its strength to the influence we're already seeing along the West Coast – signal a very active winter that we haven't seen in a long time.'

'We're already seeing the classic trappings of El Niño: a very strong subtropical jet stream that has suppressed tropical activity in the Atlantic, while the Eastern Pacific has seen record activity. Since this El Niño is so strong, we may feel its impacts well past winter, into spring and possibly even next summer.'

Severe Weather Forecasts Allow for Different Local Outcomes

The report identifies Michele L'Heureux as a NOAA physical scientist and quotes her cautioning that even a historic El Niño could bring conditions that differ from the expected pattern in some locations.

That qualification matters when interpreting warnings covering broad regions. Seasonal forecasts describe probabilities, rather than establishing the course of every storm or guaranteeing the same conditions for every community.

L'Heureux explained that El Niño can favour recurring weather patterns without determining the behaviour of each individual system.

'This is why our seasonal forecasts are expressed in terms of probabilities. You can think of El Niño as setting preferred pathways for weather systems to repeat over certain locations, but it is not going to tell every weather system exactly what to do and where to go.'