February has started off with some unusually warm weather.

State Climatologist Justin Glisan says that a reason this has happened, is because of a moderate to strong El Nino system this year. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio how that affects the weather.

“With the jetstream being farther south, and then the polar jet being further north of us, that locks in these warmer temperatures and then a wet signal as we start of February, so suggesting a more active storm track. But then we kind of transition back to near normal behavior.”

Glisan says that this marks the seventh strong El Nino event since the 1950’s, with the last one taking place in 2016, which was the warmest year around the globe to date.