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Warmer than average temps expected |
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July 24, 2017 |
The Pacific Northwest should expect continued
warmer-than-average temperatures and normal
rainfall August through October, according to a
new long-term climate outlook developed by the
NOAA Climate Prediction Center.
The El Nino Southern Oscillation, measured
largely by Pacific Ocean surface temperatures
and resulting atmospheric conditions, is
projected to be neutral this year, meaning no El
Nino or La Nina conditions that can be hugely
influential on weather in the lower 48 states.
A La Nina pattern is credited with the colder
and wetter-than-normal conditions that dominated
from last October through the winter in the
Columbia River Basin. There is now a
greater-than 50 percent likelihood of neutral
conditions persisting through the winter.
The new three-month outlook shows that
warmer-than-normal conditions should be
particularly dominant through western Montana
and nearly all of Idaho through October.
Precipitation is expected to be average for the
other Columbia Basin states, Washington and
Oregon.
So far, the big impact of prevailing weather has
been a drought that quickly took hold in the
Dakotas and eastern Montana, significantly
diminishing crops such as spring wheat and corn,
along with livestock production.
The Climate Prediction Center also reports that
June turned out to be the third warmest on
record for more than a century around the globe,
and the first six months of this year were the
second warmest around the globe. Only the Junes
of 2015 and 2016 were warmer worldwide. Across
the lower 48 states, it was the 20th warmest
June on record.
Forecaster Dan Collins said the entire country
is projected to experience above-average
temperatures during August, with the exception
of a cool pocket that is expected to develop in
the Southwest. Models show the hottest part of
the country in August will be eastern Montana
and the Dakotas. |
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