A more southerly Pacific jetstream shaped by El Niño leads forecasters to predict a wetter and cooler south and a drier and warmer north across the United States this winter.
While the warm sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific are the strongest signal defining the 2009-2010 winter outlook issued by the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service, forecasters are not expecting a strong El Niño. The moderate conditions that continue to take hold across the equator lead forecasters to predict only modest departures from normal seasonal weather patterns across the country.
The climate center's latest El Niño Advisory describes ocean and atmospheric conditions that "reflect an ongoing weak El Niño," although these conditions are expected to strengthen and persist through the Northern Hemisphere's winter.
Typically, these conditions lead to a wetter winter along the Gulf Coast, a drier than average winter in the Pacific Northwest, and warmer temperature and less snowfall than usual in the Northern Plains.
IMAGES: Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Tags: Drought, Meteorology, Water, Winter
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