Government weather forecasters say La Nina has officially arrived and will likely affect American weather patterns into next year. La Nina is the periodic cooling of water in the central Pacific Ocean that affects weather patterns around the world. An Associated Press article says current predictions say La Nina has a good chance to hang around into February. Mike Halper of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says, “It’s anticipated to be a weak and short-lived event.” In the U.S., a typical La Nina means wetter weather in the northern Rockies, Pacific Northwest, and the Ohio valley. It usually means a drier winter in southern California, the southeast U.S., and the southern plains. The most recent NOAA forecast called for a wet winter in the northern Rockies, Great Lakes region, Hawaii, and western Alaska. NOAA called for warmer and drier than normal conditions in the south, while the nation’s midsection was called a “tossup” in the most recent forecast.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.