Not a good sign for wildfire outlook.
The weather phenomenon known as La Nina has appeared in the Pacific Ocean. Forecasters say it could lead to an increase in activity during the ongoing Atlantic hurricane season and create conditions more prone to wildfires in the West.
Spanish for “Little Girl,” La Nina naturally occurs when sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean are cooler than average.
The deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center said, “La Nina can contribute to an increase in Atlantic hurricane activity by weakening the wind shear over the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Basin, which enables storms to develop and intensify.”
As it is, the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is moving at such a fast clip that forecasters are just four names away of needing to use the Greek alphabet to name storms… something they have had to do only once before.
For the West, “La Nina is not a good sign for the wildfire outlook,” according to a Stanford University climate scientist. He described how it makes states like California’s winter wet season drier, setting the stage for dry conditions to start fires in 2021.
While La Nina also has a tendency to shift snowstorms more northerly in winter, this winter should be cooler than last year.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the nation’s weather forecasters as they predict a La Nina year.
- For the weather changes that will impact various region of the U.S.
- For those fighting the wildfires across the western states.
Sources: Fox News, Associated Press, NOAA
