A report this week from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology says that weather in the Pacific Ocean is generally neutral, but there is a warming trend, which may signal the start of an El Nino pattern. Iowa State University Extension Climatologist Elwynn Taylor says that there is a change coming and that "there's not a La Nina with its risk of drought anymore."

Taylor says that there is historical precedence for a shift late in the season, citing 2006's late recovery which "saved the crop."