Winter weather, ongoing drought conditions and even the remainder of hurricane season will see impacts from a recent cooling of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific.
La Niña conditions -- the opposite phase of El Niño -- have emerged in the tropical Pacific Ocean over the past month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center said Thursday. La Niña typically brings conditions that are wetter and cooler than average to the Pacific Northwest and northern Plains, especially during the winter.
In contrast, La Niña means drier and warmer-than-average conditions usually prevail in the South. This could mean the drought-stricken Southwest will likely stay dry. (La Niña also was present last winter and worsened the drought situation across the West and Southwest.)
The Southeast is also typically drier during a La Niña winter, though before the season starts, it increases the possibility for tropical weather, including hurricanes.
"La Niña is anticipated to affect temperature and precipitation across the United States during the upcoming months," the center said as it issued a La Niña advisory Thursday, predicting conditions are present and expected to remain.
NOAA will release its winter outlook October 21, and the presence of La Niña is expected to weigh heavily in the forecast for the season. The prediction center put the odds near 90% that La Niña would be in place through the winter of 2021-2022.
Both La Niña and El Niño occur every three to five years on average, according to NOAA.
At the start of this hurricane season, seasonal forecasters said to look out for La Niña forming in October because it could make the second half of the season active. Currently, conditions across most of the Atlantic are not conducive for hurricane formation. But this could change in the coming weeks.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/14/weather/ ... index.html
More water restrictions are probably headed our way as the drought continues.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan