Long-Lasting La Niña Bad News for Drought-, Fire-Prone Southwest

Bad weather news from the U.S.-French Jason altimetric satellite: The La Niña condition that's made so many lives miserable in the American Southwest shows no sign of going away.

La Niña is a condition often following El Niño years, and is essentially the opposite. During these times, the trade winds are stronger than normal, and the cold water that usually exists along the coast of South America extends into the central Pacific. It helps reduce moisture in the air, and is correlated with dry conditions along the coasts of North and South America, along the equator, and in the far Western Pacific.

Seeing the conditions persist spells trouble for a region already struggling with drought and fires, NASA climate scientists said:

"After eight very dry years on the Colorado River watershed and a record-breaking dry winter in Southern California in 2006-2007, the situation in the American Southwest is dangerously dry," said oceanographer Bill Patzert of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. "This La Niña could deepen the drought in the already parched Southwest and Southeast United States."

La Niña Persists [NASA JPL]

(Image: A measure of sea surface heights in the Pacific, in which blue is correlated with water lower, and thus colder, than normal. Credit:
NASA/JPL Ocean Surface Topography Team)