La Niña Is Here and Could Worsen the West’s Drought This Winter

The climate phenomenon is back for the second year in a row, and it could make conditions in parts of the West even more dire.

ByMolly Taft

She’s baaaaaaack. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency’s Climate Prediction Center said last week that a La Niña has developed in the Pacific Ocean and is set to last through the winter and into next spring. That’s bad news for the record drought in the West.

This is the second year in a row that a La Niña has formed, marking what’s (adorably) known as a “double dip La Niña.” The term is used to describe abnormally cool waters in the eastern tropical Pacific. When those water cool off, they alter the atmosphere and weather around the world.

Last winter’s La Niña is a warning of what could be in store: the cold spell in the tropical Pacific helped to create drier conditions across the West, which exacerbated the drought in the region before the dry summer even hit. Later this week, NOAA is set to release its weather outlook for the U.S. through the winter, and La Niña will certainly play a role in what the agency thinks is in store.

“Our scientists have been tracking the potential development of a La Niña since this summer, and it was a factor in the above-normal hurricane season forecast, which we have seen unfold,” Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, said in a news release. “La Niña also influences weather across the country during the winter, and it will influence our upcoming temperature and precipitation outlooks.”……More Here

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