This map shows the average sea surface temperature anomalies for the week of Aug. 31. Toward the right, off of South America, the blue indicates cooler temps and new La Ni?a. Great. (Image courtesy NOAA)
In May, the waters of the Pacific Ocean off of the coast of South America began to warm up, thus signaling the end of a particularly rough La Niña cycle.
The phenomenon is believed to be at least in part for the wild weather we’ve experienced in Oklahoma and around the world.
Then the ocean was all like, “NOT SO FAST LOL!”
That’s right. After a little warm up to neutral temperatures, the ocean has started to cool again, signaling
another La Niña is starting up. It is forecast to strengthen and continue into the winter.
Well, isn’t that just fantastic… (I know it’s sometimes hard to convey sarcasm in writing, but I just want to make it perfectly clear here, that this is actually not fantastic.)
For a refresher, La Niña is a natural phenomenon that normally happens every three to five years. It is the interaction between cooler water in the Pacific and the atmosphere that influences global weather patterns. About half of the time a back-to-back La Nina can occur.
La Niña usually means warmer and drier conditions for the southern portion of the United States (check) and wetter in the Pacific Northwest and Ohio Valley.
The La Niña of 2010-2011 started in June and ended in May. And it was rough.
La Niña is the likely culprit of the drought and heat here massive snowfall, devastating floods in Australia and is contributing to the worsening famine in equatorial east Africa.
“This means drought is likely to continue in the drought-stricken states of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico,” said Mike Halpert, deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center.
Wonderful.
So, if you were coming to the weather blog today looking for good news about the long-term future, you are now sorely disappointed.
Short term, however, we will likely get
some rain! Hooray! Chances are pretty high today and tomorrow, which is good because with only a trace recorded so far this month, Tulsa is more than 2 inches behind normal for the month and nearly 9 inches down for the year. That’s a lot of catching up to do.
--Jerry Wofford
