San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, January 10, 2008
La Nina to Stay Through Spring
(01-10) 08:39 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) —
A moderate La Nina is expected to continue
through spring, bringing wet conditions to the
northern Rockies and continued dryness to the
Southeast, government climate experts said
Thursday.
La Nina is a cooling of the tropical Pacific
Ocean that can cause changes in weather patterns
around the world. It is the opposite of the
better-known El Nino, a periodic warming of the
same region.
The monthly update from the Climate Prediction
Center calls for the moderate La Nina to continue
into spring. Currently sea surface temperatures
range from 2 degrees to 3 degrees Fahrenheit
below normal in studied parts of the Pacific.
This reduces rainfall over the ocean, and there
are stronger-than-normal easterly winds blowing
at low levels.
That indicates the likelihood of above-average
precipitation over Indonesia and below-average
precipitation over the central and eastern
equatorial Pacific, forecasters said.
For the contiguous United States, potential
effects include above-average precipitation in
the northern Rockies, the Pacific Northwest, the
Ohio and Tennessee valleys, and parts of the
Great Lakes region. Below-average precipitation
is expected across most of the South,
particularly in the southeastern states.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/10/national/w083240S13.DTL
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