From El Niño to La Niña

El Niño - Almost Gone, but there's La Niña

The notorious El Niño weather pattern of the past 2 years is winding down, leaving millions of dollars of destruction in its wake. But just as weather forecasters proclaim the end of El Niño, they’re warning of another meteorological storm cloud on the horizon! La Niña- and she could pack as much punch as her infamous brother.

Waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean are now as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit below normal, this cooling is due to La Niña. But this has not developed enough yet to affect weather patterns as the waters directly to the west of Central and South America are still at above-normal temperatures.

El Niño warmed waters off the west coast of South America whereas La Niña cools them. Like El Niño, the shifting warm and cool waters changes the pattern of evaporation. That in turn changes where tropical storms occur, which in turn change the usual wind patterns. If La Niña’s pool of cool water continues and grows, the world’s unusual weathers will continue- but in flip-flop.

Opposite winter

Fewer storms will pummel California. The rainy season in the pacific Northwest, relatively sunny last year, will be particularly dreary and wet. Instead of a warm winter across the Midwest and the Northeast like last year, La Niña will bring more and more aggressive shots of cold air shooting down from Canada. Along the Atlantic coast this summer, hurricane season, which El Nino almost snuffed out last year, wi9ll likely be revitalised. The world at large will also experience the climate flip-flop. Drought-ridden Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia will be deluged, for instance, while South America will be dry. There will be fewer tropical storms in the eastern Pacific.

None of these happenings are guaranteed. As meteorologists observe, El Niño and La Niña don’t directly create weather. They merely shift the odds in favour of certain weather patterns.

And those weather patterns continue to be, well, not normal!

This cooling pattern is also good news for Peruvian fishermen- since their catch becomes more plentiful as fish feed on an abundance of nutrients pulled to the surface from the deeper ocean waters.

Natural-gas jumped 20% in June on the prospect of stronger-than-usual use of air conditioners, which increase the demand for electricity made from gas-fired plants, and that increased demand for natural gas could continue into the winter months as La Niña brings in colder temperatures, forcing homeowners to push up the thermostat.