El Niño may bring warmer, drier weather for Central Ohio fall and winter months

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It's been a hot summer, with June and July coming in well above average and August not far behind. As of Monday, there have been 18 days since May with highs in the 90s.

Josh Klabunde and his girlfriend are soaking up the late summer sunshine at the Scioto Audubon rock wall.

"This summer for me is definitely going to be a solid nine. There's been some really beautiful days."

The longest streak of 90s this summer lasted 6 days during the first week of July - a pattern becoming all too common here due to warming temperatures around the country.

"We had lots of weeks where it was really hot. Then we had lots of weeks where it was just a lot of rain so you never really know what's going to happen in Ohio," Klabunde said.

September is the month our weather pattern typically begins shifting, as daylight dwindles and cooler air begins moving in from Canada.

September will likely bring a mixture of conditions, with cooler days and some with lingering heat.

"Fall is my favorite time of year though. The weather is nice. It's football season. It'll be nice to switch to that," Klabunde said.

Columbus has hit 90 at least once for the last eight Septembers, meaning there's still time to enjoy the final days of summer before fall takes over for good.

“Hopefully we'll have some nice cool weather and it doesn't get too cold, too quickly because I’m a summer boy."

One factor that may have a big impact on our fall and winter pattern is El Niño. El Niño is a big shift in the global weather pattern that is kicked off by warming ocean water off the coast of South America. Climate forecasters say there is a 60 percent chance of El Niño forming by the fall and a 70 percent chance it will continue through the winter, and into March. Here in Ohio El Niño usually means warmer, drier weather for these seasons with less snow across the entire region. So, this fall and winter may look a lot different than last year.