Last winter we talked about the La Nina weather pattern, this year, it looks like the sibling is ready to take over.

An El Nino Watch is being issued by the Climate Prediction Center, as conditions become favorable for the development of another round of Pacific Ocean warming. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub, based in Ames, says we’ll likely feel the impact in a few months.

Farmers across Iowa will need to take particular note as the weather pattern often shifts the region’s climate. Todey says the impacts of the developing El Nino will be felt late this year into next.

Todey says they are also watching the current warming trend across the Northern Plains.

Todey says a La Nina — or cooling of the ocean — ended last year and we’ve been in a neutral phase since then.