Russ Steele
AccuWeather's Brett Anderson on the Global Warming Blog has a nice La Nina update for 2008:
Current sea surface anomalies from the Pacific, courtesy of NOAA. (Note the large area of colder than normal sea surface water covering a large part of the equatorial Pacific). Stronger than normal easterly winds over the region push warmer surface waters westward, while allowing colder water to upwell from the South American Pacific coast and expand westward near and along the equator.
The latest NOAA forecasts predict that the La Nina will strengthen and perhaps reach record level by spring. If this forecast holds up, this is the weather we can expect in 2008 according to Brett's analysis.
-- Very strong Pacific jet stream should deliver many more storms to the West coast, especially from northern California up through southern BC.
Arctic air only makes brief visits into the lower 48 and pretty much hangs out from Alaska through northern Canada and down toward northern BC and Alberta.
--Southeastern U.S. high pressure ridge stays strong and keeps much of the southern states warmer than normal, with the Southeast remaining drier than normal.
--Central Plains to the Northeast U.S. milder than normal.
--Midwest/Great Lakes into Ontario/Quebec continue to see more storms than normal, but even though it's milder than normal snowfall remains above-normal.
