La Nina Winter Ahead Pt 1
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. As 2020 winds down to a much-anticipated conclusion, growers still have the weather to worry about. It’s always different, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always keeping them on their toes.
This winter, according to Washington State Climatologist, Nick Bond, is looking more and more like a La Nina winter …
BOND … “Just in the last couple of months, we’re both more certain about it and it looks like a stronger one and, it’s not the most accurate term, but there are kind of flavors of La Nina, and this is of the flavor that has, at least in the past, had kind of systematic impacts on the pressure and wind patterns and ultimately the precipitation around here.”
But, remind us again, what exactly does a La Nina winter look like? …
BOND … “La Nina winters tend to be on the wet side, not every time, but tend to be on the wet side early and on the cool side late, and sometimes also wet after the first of the calendar year.”
So, Bond says from a water perspective, this winter should not disappoint …
BOND … “And one of the more, kind of, reliable sort of connections between La Nina and our weather is the end-of-season mountain snowpack, almost always. There are exceptions of course in this game. The La Nina winters we end up having an above normal snowpack.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on the La Nina winter ahead and what else it could mean for the Pacific Northwest heading into 2021.
