It would seem that La Niña conditions are no longer just a probability. La Niña conditions are expected to strengthen towards the end of the year and through the first quarter of 2011.
In the latest bulletin issued by the NOAA (Update prepared by Climate Prediction Center / NCEP 9 August 2010) we see that
- La Niña conditions are present across the equatorial Pacific. Negative sea surface temperature anomalies continue to strengthen across much of the Pacific Ocean. La Niña conditions are likely to continue through early 2011
- Since March 2010, positive SST anomalies have decreased across much of the equatorial Pacific. Since the beginning of May 2010, SST anomalies have become increasingly negative in the eastern half of the Pacific.
- During the last four weeks, equatorial SST anomalies have been negative in the eastern half of the Pacific. During the last 30 days, negative SST anomalies increased in magnitude in the central equatorial Pacific
- Since mid-June 2010, negative subsurface temperature anomalies have dominated the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, with only slight variations in the magnitude of the anomalies.
The formal designation of a La Niña is keyed to a 3 month mean of the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI) in Region 3.4 and is likely to happen in the first two weeks of September.
Tags: global cooling, La Nina, Science
The k2p blog 
September 1, 2010 at 7:22 am
[…] its coldest winter in 12 years and daytime temperatures in August were the coldest since 1990. La Niña is now established and may be deepening and this has also given the wettest winter since […]