A strong El Niño system means Hoosiers will likely see a winter with a higher number of mild, dry days this year.
Assistant State Climatologist Ken Scheeringa says the system can cause warmer conditions in more northern states, whereas southern states will typically experience cooler and wetter weather this winter.
This means throughout the season, Indiana should see less snow.
"Specifically, we've noted in the weather records that when we do have these strong El Niños that our snowfall is typically about in half of what we get around Indiana for the winter months," he says. "Even the amounts of snow we would get later in the winter should be less than what we're accustomed to."
Scheeringa says the U.S. hasn't seen an El Niño cycle this strong since the late 1990s.
"We do have El Niños off and on every few years, perhaps, but this is one of the more intense El Niños and the stronger ones that we've seen in quite a while," he says.
Still, he says he's not sure climatologists can pinpoint why the system is so strong this year.