Monday April 17, 2023
San Francisco Chronicle —
The West Coast is still shaking off a historic wet weather pattern, with record levels of snowpack raising flood concerns in regions like the San Joaquin Valley as temperatures warm and melting increases — risks that will continue into the months to come.
Weather models suggest that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation in the Pacific Ocean, which just recently saw the end of its La Niña pattern, has a high chance of shifting to El Niño. This transition to El Niño may result in a restoration of wetter-than-normal patterns come fall and winter in California. But other weather patterns could be obstacles in this coming to fruition — just look at how La Niña turned out this year.
The El Niño pattern is part of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. “This oscillation corresponds to shifts in wind directions across the Pacific Ocean, as high and low-pressure systems move around and altering sea-surface temperatures. Generally, there are three phases of the oscillation: La Niña, neutral and El Niño.