April 07, 2021
La Nina is Collapsing
This winter has been dominated by La Nina. a period of below-normal sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific. The implications of La Nina have been profound for the West Coast, with above-normal snowpack in the Northwest and dry conditions over the southwest U.S.
Typical conditions during a La Nina Winter
But there is major news on the La Nina front. La Nina is now collapsing and should be history in a few months.
To show this, let's start by looking at the sea surface temperature anomaly (difference from normal) for the central tropical Pacific, an area called the Nino 3.4 region (see map).
As shown below, the sea surface temperatures in this area have been colder than normal (blue colors), hitting a maximum of 1.8C below normal in late October. Anytime the temperature is .5C or more colder than normal, we consider it a La Nina period.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/04/07/la-nina-is-collapsing/
