Winter Weather and La Nina

From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson and this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. La Nina has arrived and that means a winter with probably a little more precipitation and a bit cooler than average.

But University of Washington Atmospheric Sciences Professor, Cliff Mass says it’s a weak La Nina …

MASS … “Yeah, well, it’s very clear right now, we are in a La Nina winter. We will begin at a La Nina winter and right now the forecasts are that we will phase into neutral conditions by the end of the winter. So, you know, sometime after the New Year it will switch to neutral.”

So, for now, Mass says that’s good news …

MASS … “These kinds of years tend to be wetter than normal, gets to be a little bit cooler than normal, the snowpack tends to be good. So, it’s a favorable pattern for moisture.”

So, I had to ask, does that mean no drought worries? …

MASS … “That’s right, and in fact the forecasts for the next few weeks are pretty emphatic that we have quite a bit of precipitation coming in. So, yeah, there is no reason to expect drought at this point, at all.”

And that extra precipitation, Mass says isn’t just for Western Washington …

MASS … “Eastern Washington will tend to be cooler than normal, and the moisture there is not really that critical in terms of the entire state, but we tend to have more wet systems coming in. So, even they’ll pick up a little bit.”

Mass says moisture should not be a problem this year and we could see some interesting storms.