Draper urges residents to prepare properties for an El Niño winter

DRAPER — Draper officials posted an advisory on Thursday, Nov. 5, asking residents to get their properties ready for a winter shaped by El Niño, citing "the uncertainty surrounding the potential impacts of El Niño and the possibility of changing weather patterns and increased precipitation," the Draper Herald reported 1. The post encouraged homeowners to "take preventative steps to protect their homes and properties" 1.

**What the federal outlook says**

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's U.S. Winter Outlook, released Oct. 15, covers December 2026 through February 2027. It favors wetter-than-average conditions across the southern tier of the country, from the Southwest to the Southeast, and warmer-than-average temperatures across the northern states 2.

Utah's Intermountain West sits outside both signals: NOAA places the region in the "equal chances" category for seasonal precipitation, meaning no tilt toward wetter, drier or near-average totals 2. The same outlook gives elevated odds of drier-than-average conditions for the northern Mountain West and forecasts drought to develop or worsen across parts of the northern Rockies 2.

"While higher chances of rain and snow may bring relief to drought-afflicted areas, too much precipitation on dry soil can fuel destructive flash floods and mudslides," Ken Graham, director of NOAA's National Weather Service, said in the outlook. "Now is the time for communities and individuals to plan ahead for the upcoming winter" 2.

**Why the Wasatch Front is the hard part**

Jon Meyer, assistant state climatologist at the Utah Climate Center, told The Salt Lake Tribune and Grist that southern Utah leans wet under this pattern while northern Utah, where most of the state's population lives, "is right in the bulls-eye of being very unpredictable" 3. The same account notes that much of Utah saw normal precipitation last winter but as rain rather than snow, and that this El Niño is already the strongest on record 3.

NOAA updates its three-month outlook monthly; the next update is scheduled for Nov. 19 2.