La Niña forecast weakens by April, California drought eases – Daily News

Brian K. Sullivan

A drought-promoting La Niña is likely to abate by the end of California’s wet season, offering hope that arid conditions will ease across the western United States.

The Center for Climate Prediction said in its forecast Thursday that there is a 71% chance that the Pacific will return to normal temperatures between February and April, ending a three-year La Niña weather pattern. La Niña is dominating the world’s weather, causing mild winters in the south, drought in the west, and dry crops in parts of Argentina and Brazil.

According to the US Drought Monitor, over 99% of California’s land is experiencing drought. The state receives most of the year’s rain and snow from November to April, and mostly from December to February. California is off to a good start this winter with snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains, but the same thing happened last year, when a La Niña cut rainfall for the rest of the winter, pushing the state and the western United States into drought. drove away

Since 1950, there have been three La Niñas in three consecutive years, characterized by cooler-than-normal water temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, but modern records do not show four consecutive years of La Niñas. . In addition to the increased likelihood of a return to normality in the Pacific, the oceans are likely to warm between July and September. This is the phenomenon known as El Niño.