According to a November El Niño update, the peak of the current El Niño “is expected to occur in the next month or so,” and local officials are continuing to prepare for the possibility of a locally heavy winter.
The update, posted on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate.gov, notes that the effects of this El Niño have been seen elsewhere in the world for months already, while the strongest season for El Niño impacts in the U.S. is December through March.
“We won’t know until next spring what exact impact this El Niño will have on the U.S., but it is already making its presence felt around the world,” update author Emily Becker wrote.
To help prepare for the possibility of a locally heavy winter with higher-than-average snowfall, both the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners and Pagosa Springs Town Council approved a pair of emergency plans earlier this month.
The plans, the Archuleta County Winter Storm Emergency Mitigation and Response Plan and the Archuleta County Extended Power Outage Emergency Mitigation and Response Plan, were both approved unanimously and were prepared to help facilitate a coordinated community response to significant winter events.
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