NOAA forecasters say that the current
La Niña* pattern has a 95% chance of continuing thru winter. One Dive Op once did a count of the number of port closures month by month for seven years (pinned at the top of this forum), and I have to wonder if
La Niñas/El Niños have had a direct effect on years overall, but I guess that would require a hundred-year study. Since
La Niñas push cooler water north along the North American west coast, I would speculate that westerly winds would cause colder conditions to build up in the northern continent when nortes form and therefore cause more northers to push down thru the midcontinent plains, then across Texas and the Gulf, but that's pretty long-range
amateurish thinking. My family has been farming on the Texas high plains for a century now and none of us have figured out what to expect. I still don't put much faith in ten-day forecasts altho the experts seem to be getting better with those.
* I guess everyone knows where the
El Niño-Southern Oscillation climate pattern got its name? NOAA claims that
"El Niño means The Little Boy, or Christ Child in Spanish. El Niño was originally recognized by fishermen off the coast of South America in the 1600s, with the appearance of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean. The name was chosen based on the time of year (around December) during which these warm waters events tended to occur." I first heard the story based on warmer weather in Mexico City at Christmastime. The alternate name of
La Niña does not refer to any little girls and was simply created by some weatherman in some conversation somewhere
