El Nino and high tide floding, a possible double whammy for some coastal communities in 2026

El Niño's Shifted Jet Stream Points Storms at the Mid-Atlantic Coast

Insights
 

• Gulf Coast and Southeast communities can also see higher-than-normal rainfall during El Niño years.
   

• The shifted jet stream reroutes moisture away from its typical paths.
   

• Along the West Coast, El Niño's elevated sea levels can push high tides and strong surf farther inland than normal.

Once the jet stream moves, so does everything it carries with it. Storm systems that might otherwise track through one part of the country end up pulled toward another, and coastal communities in that new path can find themselves facing conditions they aren't used to.

The reach of that shift isn't limited to a single coastline. From one end of the country to the other, communities along the water are affected in different ways by the same underlying change, even if the experience looks different depending on where you live.