Monday July 18, 2022
KRON 4 —
A rare triple-dip La Niña is looking increasingly likely for the Northern Hemisphere. The latest outlook by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, released Thursday, indicates there’s a 62% to 66% chance the current La Niña climate condition will persist through fall and early winter.
If that happens, it’ll be the third La Niña winter in a row – a rare phenomenon we’ve only seen twice since 1950. A third consecutive La Niña year would likely have a major impact on California.
The La Niña climate pattern usually splits the country into two, bringing a dry winter to the southern half and a wetter winter to the northern half. We don’t know exactly where the dividing line will fall this year. Sometimes La Niña splits California in two, bringing lots of rain to Northern California and drought to Southern California.
This year, however, the dividing line was further north. While parts of Washington and Oregon are out of the drought, a dry La Niña winter and spring have left 99.8% of California suffering drought conditions.