La Nina continues to weaken
20.05.12
It's likely that this cooler than normal sea-surface temperature
phenomenon has already peaked and won't come near the La Nina event
of 2010, which was one of the strongest ever recorded and led to
very snowy conditions across the North Country.
But, we've been seeing a "back and forth" pattern of cooling and
warming over the last several months. There were indications that
La Nina was going to completely fall apart last November, before
regaining some strength in December.
According to the Climate Prediction Center, the majority of the
computer models are predicting that La Nina has peaked, but its
effects will continue through the rest of the winter season and
perhaps into the early spring of 2012.
It's still possible that we could see a very cold and snowy late
January and February in the northern regions. We've already seen
increased snowfalls across the northern U.S. and southern Canada in
the past 10 days. Despite the recent heavy snows, the snowfall
totals of the 2011-2012 season won't compare to the big snow years
of 2007 and 2008. There have been La Nina years, combined with
increased solar activity, that saw near to 'below' normal snowfall
totals across the northern U.S. As usual, only time will tell.
Source: Coeur d'Alene Press