Sep 22 2007
La Nina Could Spell Another Dry Winter in Southern California
A La Nina situation has set up in the Pacific and is predicted to last at least three months. This phenomenon occurs when colder water plants itself in equatorial waters of the Pacific. It affects the weather in many ways. But here in California it tends to create a barrier to the moisture track we so dearly depend on in the Winter.
I can’t really tell you why we associate this weather situation with a “little girl”. But knowledge of the El Nino/La Nina has been growing steadily since the late 1980’s. The concensus is that one replaces the other; that it is the constant ebb and flow of warm and cold water. Probably without it, we wouldnt have much to talk about in the weather world, as it is one of the major causes of constant change on our planet.
The picture at left is this weeks “departure from normal” graphic. Two things are very visible. La Nina is the east to west path of blue (colder) traversing the equator from South America. Last week we talked a bit about the polar ice cap. Look at the colors up there !
Interestingly, here in Southern California, at Oxnard, we have received quite a bit of rain yesterday and today. Perhaps as much as we received in the entire past year ! This will help our drought situation a bit and stave off the La Nina moisture robber some. Meanwhile, folks on the Atlantic side of the coin point to La Nina being the cause for increased cyclonic weather in that ocean. I hope it doesn’t mean an elongated hurricane season in the caribbean as I will be there with a group of SailTime sailors for our November N2C Graduation flotilla in the BVI…
[...] Having hardly seen any weather in a couple of years this is exciting. And after reporting on the La Nina predictions last fall, a humorous reminder that we humans really don’t know much about why [...]