(YouTube – casanever85)
NO, Chris Farley! It’s not El Niño time. The ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) is pointing to the other one this season… La Niña… and that means much of the northern United States is in for a cooler winter this go-around.
What’s Brewing Now?
La Niña is underway, with a 65-75% chance it will continue at least thru the 2017-18 winter. Similar to last winter, the event is predicted to be relatively weak. During a weak event, the typical U.S. impacts associated with La Niña are still possible, but they become less likely.
![](http://praedictix.seattlewebconsultant.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/3.png)
(Climate.gov)
What To Expect
The reliable cycle that is ENSO swings El Niños and La Niñas in the Pacific all the time. That has a major impact on what type of weather many locations across the planet will have during a typical winter season and beyond. This winter… it’s time for our newest La Niña to swing away! Below is ‘snapshot’ of generally what you can expect during a La Niña winter.
![](http://praedictix.seattlewebconsultant.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/1.png)
(NOAA)
La Nina… The Basics
La Niña (Spanish for “little girl”) is a natural ocean-atmospheric phenomenon marked by cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific near the equator, the opposite of El Niño (“little boy”).
Typical La Niña patterns during winter include above-average precipitation and colder-than-average temperatures along the northern U.S. and below-normal precipitation and drier conditions across the South. NOAA’s 2017 Winter Outlook shows that a weak La Niña was likely to develop.
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