You may have heard of La Niña and El Niño having a huge impact on weather patterns, especially in the winter when we get most of our rain and snow.
For La Niña, sea surface temperatures are colder than normal in the Pacific near the equator. And a cold ocean means less evaporation, less clouds building in that area, affecting the jet stream aloft that carries storm systems around the world.
Right now, we’re in the third year in a row of a La Niña pattern, each with varying effects on how much rain we got because of the position of the jet stream.
El Niño years tend to