The 2018-19 El Nino struggled to organize and intensify before dissipating the past couple months. Since the 1999 strong La Nina only 3 ENSO episodes have been intense. During this time the global oceans have warmed significantly. Is the warmer global ocean huring ENSO intensity?

Recent research has shown that projecting future drought risk is more confidently forecast by combining the influence of long-term climate measured by 10-200 CM soil moisture deficits and the effects of recent weather patterns implied in 0-10 CM soil moisture anomalies.

Several forecast models have dissipated El Nino and project either neutral ENSO or weak La Nina emerging during the North Atlantic tropical cyclone season. In previous years when El Nino started the year and dissipated mid-year tropical cyclone activity including numbers of hurricanes in the North Atlantic basin were above normal and sometimes excessive.

Pattern change in the U.S. especially featuring major precipitation events often is caused by presence of the Madden Julian oscillation or a tropical cyclone.