El Nino, is it all related?
Late this past fall, Pacific Ocean waters off the coast of South America began to warm and a weak El Nino weather pattern was born. Warmer waters are associated with more energy and more energy means more storms. El Nino strengthened this winter, and over the past few months, it has been responsible for a variety of extreme weather especially in the West and Midwest. In our area, the pattern has been a bit more docile and while we have had a bit of snow and cold and a bit of mild and wet weather, the overall picture has not been too bad.
Out West, the roaring Pacific Coast jet stream has brought relentless rains, mudslides, flooding and large amounts of snow. The wettest year in over a decade has now produced one of the most vibrant blooms of orange California poppies. Millions and millions of them now cover the hillsides and thousands and thousands and thousands of visitors clog the highways in an attempt to see this colorful display.
In between the extreme weather in the West and the calm weather in the East, the Midwest has also been plagued with heavy snow and rain. The record snow pack is now beginning to melt and heavy rains on top of the melt are causing rivers through the middle part of the country to flood. Last week, the Midwest saw a 鈥渂omb cyclone鈥� produce more heavy rains along with winds up to 100 mph. The barometric pressure and winds were similar to those seen in a typical hurricane, only this was winter and over land.
The rains and melting snows are now flooding Nebraska and Iowa with unprecedented river levels. The Missouri River at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, crested 4 feet higher than it has ever reached. Farmers are worried about spring planting since the floods on these big rivers take a long time to rise and recede and there is still a lot of snow to melt in the upper Midwest. They have also lost a lot of livestock to the floods and this could be problem for beef prices later this year.
The Climate Prediction Center on March 14 issued and updated El Nino Advisory, which calls for an 80 percent chance of it to continue through the spring months and then begin to weaken. This is probably not good for the farmers in the Midwest. As I write this 9 million people in 14 states are under flood warnings and there is more to come. Out West, the renewed growth of vegetation is beautiful but it is also fuel for future fires when the dry weather returns. It is also interesting to note that temperatures in Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska, this week have been in the 40s. A bit of a warm up from the 30 and 40 below zero experienced earlier.
In our area spring looks to be a little above normal in the temperature department and about normal for rainfall.
Happy spring!