El Niño ‘may foreshadow changes’ for Whatcom weather. What that means for next winter
It’s looking more and more like Northwest Washington will see El Niño conditions develop later this year, a cyclical weather phenomenon associated with warmer winters with less rain and snow than in other years.
An El Niño occurs when ocean temperatures off the coast of South America increase, altering the jet stream and sending winter storms toward California rather than Washington.
“The coastal warming in the eastern Pacific may foreshadow changes across the Pacific basin,” scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center said in a report Thursday, April 14.
There’s a 62% chance of an El Niño this year, the report said.
“Therefore, an El Niño watch has been issued, and the range of possibilities toward the end of the year includes a strong El Niño (40% chance) to no El Niño (10% chance),” the report said.
A companion to the El Niño is called La Niña, and it usually means a colder winter with more rain and snow in the Northwest.
A rare three-year La Niña has ended, the Climate Prediction Center said in a March advisory, capping a series of cold and wet winters that brought devastating floods to Whatcom County in 2020 and 2021.
Whatcom County’s last El Niño winter was 2018-2019, when the Mt. Baker Ski Area saw 538 inches of snow against a 10-year average of 651 inches annually.
