La Niña! Who’s that?

Since fall 2007 we encounter bad weather conditions. Is it “La Niña”?

La La Niña  causes mostly the opposite effects of El Niño, for example, El Niño  would cause a dry period in the Philippines, while La  Niña  would typically cause a wet period in this area.

In simple terms, whereas El Niño  causes drier weather on West Pacific seaboards, ie. Eastern Australia or Southeast Asia, and wetter, humid weather in the East Pacific, ie. Western Americas; La Niña  causes opposite conditions, although usually to a lesser extreme.

Currently, there is a moderate La Niña , which began developing in mid-2007. NOAA confirmed that a moderate La Niña  developed in their November El Niño/Southern Oscillation Diagnostic Discussion, and that it will likely continue into 2008. According to NOAA, “Expected La  Niña impacts during November to January include a continuation of above-average precipitation over the Philippines and below-average precipitation over the central equatorial Pacific”.