NOAA's Climate Scene Investigators analyzed why the mid-Atlantic region had record-setting snowstorms this winter. The team looked for but found no human "fingerprints" on the severe weather. Instead, they fingered two naturally occurring climate patterns as co-conspirators in the case.
A wave of cold Arctic air gripped much of North America, Europe, and northern portions of Asia through the month of December 2009.
The Pacific-North American teleconnection pattern influences regional weather by affecting the strength and location of the East Asian jet stream, and subsequently, the weather it delivers to North America.
The Arctic Oscillation (AO) refers to an atmospheric circulation pattern over the mid-to-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The most obvious reflection of the phase of this oscillation is the north-to-south location of the storm-steering, mid-latitude jet stream.
The North Atlantic Oscillation tracks a seesawing of surface pressure between two parts of the North Atlantic. Different phases often bring predictable changes in winds, temperature, and precipitation in the United States and Europe.
A La Niña Watch has been issued by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. But also, we are still in El Niño! Confused? Let the ENSO bloggers explain.
With an analogy drawn from the gym, Michelle L'Heureux explains (again!) how weather (your workout) is not climate (your fitness).
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. The latest ENSO Outlook does in fact favor the end of La Niña with a slightly over 80% chance that ENSO-Neutral conditions will reign supreme by springtime. For more on that and another look at how daily temperatures vary during winter, click below.
The January 2023 climate outlook favors a wetter-than-average start to the new year for the western US, northern Plains, Great Lakes and Tennessee Valley, and a warmer-than-average month for the central and eastern United States.
The December 2022 climate outlook favors a colder-than-average month across the northern US, and a warmer-than-average month across the southern US. Meanwhile, odds are tilted towards a wetter-than-average December for the West and Ohio and Tennessee Valleys.