LA NINA
La Niña is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon that is the counterpart
of El Niño as
part of the broader El Niño-Southern
Oscillation climate pattern. During a period of La Niña,
the sea surface
temperature across the
equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean will be lower than normal by 3–5
°C. In the United States, an episode of La Niña is defined as a period of
at least 5 months of La Niña conditions. The name La Niña originates from Spanish, meaning "the girl,"
analogous to El Niño meaning "the boy."
La Niña, sometimes informally called "anti-El Niño", is
the opposite of El Niño, where the latter corresponds instead to a higher sea surface temperature by a deviation
of at least 0.5 °C, and its effects are often the reverse of those of El
Niño. El Niño is famous due to its potentially catastrophic impact on the
weather along both the Chilean, Peruvian,
New Zealand, and Australian coasts, among others. It has extensive
effects on the weather in North America, even affecting the Atlantic
Hurricane Season. La Niña is often, though not always, preceded by
an El Niño.
Effects?
The results of La Niña are
mostly the opposite of those of El Niño; for example, El Niño would cause a dry period in
the Midwestern U.S., while La Niña would typically cause a wet period in that
area. La Niña often causes drought conditions in the western Pacific; flooding in
northern South America; mild wet summers in northern North America, and drought
in the southeastern United States.


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