[7] La Niña Heading Our Way

The Northwest is expected to be wetter than normal this winter as a La Niña event is shaping up in the eastern equatorial Pacific, where significant ocean cooling has taken place, according to a Sept. 24 federal update.

NOAA/National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center models show a weak-to-moderate La Niña is expected to persist through early 2008, with conditions "strengthening" over the next few months.

The update says equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperatures were more than 1 degree C below average between 160 degrees west and the South American coast, but still above average in the western Pacific.

A La Niña is a five-month period in a certain part of the equatorial Pacific where sea-surface temperatures are half-a-degree C below normal. The last official one occurred from September 2000 to March 2001.

Before that, a stronger La Niña took place between June 1998 and June 2000, coming off a very powerful El Niño that ended officially in March 1998.

By 1999, ocean conditions had improved drastically off the Pacific Coast, with salmon populations increasing in kind, with return rates for many salmon runs improving by an order of magnitude or more. -B. R.

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