Episode 295: Super-El Niño Shapes Summer Forecast

While a hectic spring season brought with it welcome rainfall, it also brought an unruly mix of record heat and late local cold snaps that has set some farmers back in their planting efforts.But as May makes way for June and a Super-El Niño summer, likely the most extreme on record, emerges, American farmers are looking to what’s in store for the heart of the season. DTN’s Ag Meteorologist John Baranick joins us today with his very latest forecasts on what the 2026 season might have in store. We’ll start with reviewing how his spring forecast held up, and then dive into his expectations for June, July, and August as the El Niño pattern officially sets in. We’ll dig into what’s likely in terms of precipitation, heat, and severe weather across the corn belt, southeast, and the plains, especially in light of the evolving drought picture across these key regions. Then we’ll take a look at the West Coast, which is likely to get the short end of the El Niño stick, before turning our attention to the harvest and winter weather outlook in Latin America. Finally, we’ll get a birds-eye view of potential weather impacts around the globe, and hear what John expects for the harvest season.