Hydrosphere Journal Entry

Hydrosphere Journal Entry

El Niño Rains Will Continue (February 1, 2010)

For much of January, heavy rains spawned by the current El Niño drenched California and the Southwest. The rains triggered floods and power outages but brought much needed snow to the mountains and helped ease a three-year drought. The parade of storms from the Pacific Ocean will likely continue through March, according to meteorologists.

El Niño is a climate event marked by warmer than normal ocean temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean along the equator. It has an impact on weather patterns around the globe, but it's tough making exact predictions how El Niño will affect weather. Ever-changing atmospheric and ocean factors come into play from year to year. Because it can increase wind shear over the Atlantic Ocean that often rips storms apart, El Niño was a factor in the mild 2009 Atlantic hurricane season.

Last December, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted California, the Southwest, and the Gulf states would be wetter than usual this winter. That's proven to be the case. Elsewhere in the U.S., The Pacific Northwest was expected to see drier weather. Milder temperatures were forecast for north-central states, while the Southeast and mid-Atlantic region were expected to be colder. El Niño is blamed for the recent floods in Eastern Africa. In the past, it's been linked to heavy rain and floods in western South America, especially in Peru and Ecuador. By contrast, northern Australia and the Western Pacific are often drier than normal in El Niño years.