November 20, 2007
CapitalWeather.com: "No Snow for You"
Tomorrow we'll be greeted with the strange dissonance of 73 degree weather and a sunset at ten to five. Confusing as it is, the tilt of the Earth will finally win out, and winter will arrive sooner or later. But if you ask CapitalWeather.com, it won't be any great shakes. Bad news for us snow lovers and school kids, but great news for southern transplants and bad drivers.
According to CapitalWeather's famed Winter Outlook, posted this morning, it looks as if Washington will be stuck in a zone competing against a dry and warm regime over the Carolinas and a wet and severe one over the Northeast. In other words, it's looking pretty average, with a good chance that January and February will be warmer than usual with winter snowfall totals below normal. Most dishearteningly, they predict that the bust potential—when they forecast four inches of snow and end up with a warm wind and some mist—will be pretty high. What a rip off.
CapitalWeather goes into the science of their prediction—all "La Niña this," "El Niño that," and "check out my quasi-biennial oscillation"—but we'll leave that to them. The only thing abundantly clear is that if you're hoping for a big, blustery, blizzardy winter and it turns out to be totally lame, blame Matt Ross.
Photo from ambimb.
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Forgive my ignorance, but "La Nina" sounds made up. Is it Spanish for "Global Warming?"
La Nina is not made up. La Nina is a cooler than normal ocean off of the Equatorial Eastern Pacific. La Nino is the opposite, a warmer than normal ocean at that locations. Also look up Souther Oscillation. Typically La Nina has only marginal influence on the Mid-Atlantic weather. We are usually right between wetter than normal to the north and drier than normal to the south.
To add on RJ's comment: Since the warmer part of Pacific Ocean cycle arrives right around Christmas, the South American fisherman who tended to experience its effects more would call it the arrival of The Little Boy (El Nino). La Nina is just the natural name for the other, cooler end of the cycle.
if you're hoping for a big, blustery, blizzardy winter and it turns out to be totally lame, blame Matt Ross.
No, blame Canada! They probably hogged all the snow, and they're not even a real country anyway.
(Great picture, BTW.)