Los Niños

It's Sunday School! Yippee! OK, Welcome to Sunday School. Today we're going to talk about a couple of Golden Oldies: El Niño & La Niña, AKA Los Niños. You've all heard their names a thousand times since they were "discovered" back in the 1980's. The books, papers and articles written about Los Niños would probably fill a skyscraper.
As the years have passed, Los Niños have become a legendary part of global weather lore. It's been a long time since I've seen a simplified explanation of those two terrible children. Well, lo and behold, while we were roaming El Net this morning we quite literally stumbled onto a very nice and simple description and discussion of Los Niños. Click here to go to the NWS Pacific Regional HQ's "ENSO" page. Then click the "Next" button at the bottom of that page, and viola, Sunday School comes alive! OK, Class, we'd like to call your attention to something called the "Niño 3.4 Zone." Click on the tiny graphic here and you will see it between latitudes 5N and 5S and between longitudes 120 and 150 West. The NWS says this zone "is the preferred region to monitor sea surface temperature" for the purposes of monitoring ENSO and therefore Los Niños. Now, Class, go click over on the SST link at your left. Take a real close look at the Niño 3.4 Zone and tell me what you see. Hum...that's right, Class, you see cooler waters! NOAA & the NWS have this little gig where they won't declare either an El Niño or La Niña until they have months of data to back up their claims. Often, I've noticed that either of the Los Niños is clearly visible long BEFORE the scientists say it's "official." I am getting an inkling that such may be the case right now. I've heard vague rumors that a "weak La Niña" is possible for this year. (Check this Anchorage article.) I'm beginning to think those rumors might worth listening to. Keep an eye on the Niña 3.4 Zone in the weeks ahead. If you see a wider area of cooler water and a cooling trend, I think you might wanna lend some credence to those rumors! Thanks for attending Sunday School. Now GO PLAY! (PS--We are now moderating comments so there will be a time delay between when you comment and when it shows up. Sorry 'bout that!)