A long-awaited La Niña has finally emerged, although meteorologists indicated that the periodic cooling of Pacific Ocean waters appears to be weak this time around and is unlikely to bring as many weather disturbances as typically associated with this phenomenon. La Niña, which is the counterpart to the more widely recognized El Niño, involves an irregular cooling of waters in a crucial area of the central equatorial Pacific, leading to global changes in weather patterns.
The most recent El Niño event concluded in June of last year, with forecasters from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) anticipating the onset of La Niña for several months now. Michelle L’Heureux, who heads NOAA’s El Niño team, suggested that the delayed appearance of La Niña could have been influenced by the overall warmer conditions of the world’s oceans in recent years.
L’Heureux stated, “It’s totally not clear why this La Niña is so late to form, and I have no doubt it’s going to be a topic of a lot of research.” Despite the tardiness and relatively subdued nature of the temperature anomalies associated with La Niña, L’Heureux indicated that some effects have already manifested globally, allowing forecasters to make seasonal predictions based on the anticipated La Niña conditions.
In the United States, La Niña events typically result in drier conditions across the Southern and Western regions, while bringing increased precipitation to areas such as Indonesia, northern Australia, and southern Africa, according to L’Heureux. Moreover, La Niñas are known to elevate the likelihood of Atlantic hurricanes during the summer months; however, L’Heureux projected that the current La Niña is expected to dissipate before the onset of summer.
El Niño events are generally associated with higher precipitation levels in the United States and have a warming effect on global temperatures, while La Niña events have the opposite impact, leading to cooler conditions. Research has indicated that La Niña-induced droughts have been more economically damaging than extreme weather events linked to El Niño.
The most recent La Niña episode concluded in 2023 after an unusually extended three-year duration.
