El Nino Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. The El Nino winter ahead is likely to bring a bit warmer than average temps and slightly drier conditions.
Cliff Mass, Atmospheric Sciences professor at the University of Washington, says the biggest difference is likely less snow in the mountains …
MASS … “On the average that’s probably down 10 to 20% on average for a moderate to strong El Nino years. So, less snow in the mountains, which has implications for water of course the next summer, but nothing very profound the first part of the winter.”
And, Mass says Western Washington should feel it more …
MASS … “Really, in Eastern Washington the differences are really quite minor. It’s really what happens on the Western side of the Cascades, and particularly the reduced snowpack on the Western side. That’s the biggest connection.”
But Mass says things can be done …
MASS … “We can preserve water, for instance, if we’re to have less snowpack. Then the dam and reservoir managers can take that into consideration. There’ll be plenty of rain so they can simply close things down and save water earlier. And that’s something they can do to manage the situation.”
Mass says it’s not all about El Nino …
MASS … “You’ve got to consider that there’s many things torquing the atmosphere around. This is one of them, but there are other things. And so if the other things are unusual in some direction we could end up with a completely different type of winter.”
For more information, go to Cliff’s weather blog at … https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/
