La Nina Winter

I'm Bob Larson. Drought conditions don't appear likely after an El Nino weather pattern has moved out of the Pacific Northwest, only to be replaced by what's looking to be a rather mild to weak La Nina.

Meteorologist Ted Buehner with the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center says during a La Nina, odds usually favor wetter and cooler winters ...

TED BUEHNER ... "So what does all this mean for us. Well we've already seen temperature and precipitation, but for the mountain snowpack it's likely to be near or a bit above average which is good news for those who like snow in the mountains for recreation, water purposes, etc. On the events scale, major flooding is more likely this winter season. Major wind storms? Likely! And for lowland snow, we have a better chance than we've had during the last two winters when El Nino was in play."

Buehner says timing of the events are less predictable ...

TED BUEHNER ... "So the best bet for flooding and windstorms is this fall. Our best chance for cold or snow is probably right around the Christmas holidays through the month of January. And it's also possible we may get a big ridge of high pressure over us at some point with freezing levels up close to 10,000 feet, quite warm, while down here in the lowlands we're, I'll say 38 degrees, stuck in fog, and it's pretty cold."

Buehner says nothing is certain with this La Nina and conditions could vary across the state and the rest of the northwest including Oregon, Idaho, and parts of Northern California.